Lovers Always
by Gyllene
Summary: The sequel to Lover's Amnesia. Things settle down for our favorite couple, and new relationships are formed, but will that peace last? Read on to find out if what happens in Dallas…stays in Dallas… AU Thanks to Meridian for convincing me to start the sequel and for our late night plot chats.
1. Chapter 1 - Betrayal

Disclaimer: All character belong to Charlaine Harris, Alan Ball, HBO, etc. I own nothing and all mistake are mine.

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CHAPTER 1 - BETRAYAL

It was eerily quiet while we made our way to Dallas as everyone's thoughts were on the missing vampire we were headed to find. What would normally take three hours took us a little less than two and we may have arrived there more quickly if Charlie didn't almost have a heart attack in the back seat due to Eric's driving.

I had only been in a car with Eric, Pam, and Charlie and both Eric and Pam drove the same way, like a bat out of hell, according to Charlie, so I was accustomed to it I guess it's not normal to go quite that fast.

I watched as we entered the new city and I was in awe of how stunning it was with all of its tall, colorful buildings that reflected off the water.

"It's beautiful," I uttered as I watched out my window.

"Have you never been before?" Charlie asked, speaking up from the backseat.

I shrugged my shoulders before looking over at Eric. "Have I ever been here before?" I asked him.

"Yes, a few times in fact. The last time we were here was last summer," he replied before he brought our clasped hands up to his mouth and laid feather light kisses along my knuckles.

"I've never been so we'll have to explore the city to find some good places to eat… and shop," Charlie stated, the last part reluctantly.

"Until Sookie and I have cleared the Tiger, I want the two of you to eat at the restaurants that are in the hotel or get room service unless Hauk or I am with you," Eric said, looking into the rearview mirror at Charlie.

"I get it," Charlie replied with his hands up as if he was surrendering. "You don't want anything to happen to your wife. I'm sure everyone in this car will agree that we all feel the same way. You've got nothing to worry about; I won't put her in any danger and I'll do anything in my power to keep her safe."

Turning around in my seat, I smiled back at Charlie. "Thank you, Charlie. That's really sweet."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Eric shaking his head slightly with a small smile on his face and feel his amusement.

"You're sweet too," I whispered against his cheek before I kissed him.

"I'm not sweet," he quietly said back to me. He knew he was sweet to me and I thought it was funny how he tried to deny it, but I could feel that he secretly loved it when I called him out on it. We could both hear Hauk chuckling lightly in the backseat.

Before I knew it we were pulling up in front of our hotel and from what I could see the first floor was all glass. Before I even had a chance to unbuckle my seatbelt the valet had opened my door and a bellboy was taking all of our bags out of the back to the car.

The valet held his hand out to help my out of the car, but Eric quickly sidestepped him, holding his hand out for me to take. Placing my hand in his, I smiled up at him in thanks as I stepped out into the hot, humid night.

"Welcome to the Hotel Palomar," the bellboy said as he held open the lobby door for us.

As Eric checked all of us in, I quietly took in my surroundings and read the minds of the woman at the front desk and the bellboy.

Neither thought anything about a missing a vampire or had any ill-will against vampires. The woman who was checking us in was thinking quite the opposite as she dealt with my husband. My anger flared at her thoughts causing Eric to look back at me with a questionable eyebrow. I shook my head letting him know that there was nothing to be alarmed about. The only danger was to the dark headed woman who had better stop thinking about how she wanted to unzip Eric's pants with her teeth.

"Sookie, are you alright?" Hauk asked stepping in front of me.

"Are you reading her thoughts?" I whispered yelled, pointing around him toward the woman.

"No. I stepped out of her head once I recognized that she wasn't a threat. Maybe you should do the same."

"I'm no longer in her head, but I didn't like what I heard and saw when I was in there," I continued to whisper yell with my hands on my hips.

It wasn't until I felt a spike of amusement and lust that I turned and glanced at Eric and I was taken aback with the look he gave me. His blue eyes burned with intense desire and never left mine as he took three long predatory strides toward me. My heart beat wildly in my chest and I gasped with delight when he threaded one hand in my hair and wrapped his other arm around my waist, pulling my body flush against his.

"Wife," he growled before hungrily devouring my lips. His hand traveled up my back until both his hands cradled the back of my head and I moaned into his mouth.

"Ready to go to our room?" He asked with a sly grin once he released me.

I nodded breathlessly and chuckled. Leave it to Eric to take over the situation and make it better.

He handed Hauk and Charlie each a room key as we made our way to the elevators hand in hand.

"We are all on the same floor," he said. "I got the best rooms I could get on such short notice, but we will not be staying here for the duration of the trip. Once we figure out who kidnapped Godric and how, I will access the security of his home. It is one of the most secure homes that I know," he shook his head. "I do not know how anyone managed to get inside. It either had to have been someone he knows or someone gave out his security information and there are very few who know the codes to get in."

Once we stepped out of the elevator Eric took my hand and started to guide us to the right toward our room. "Your rooms are at the other end of the hall. Call us if you need anything."

"We'll see you later," Charlie said as he turned to walk to his room.

"Later," I called back.

We stepped into our room that had a living area and bedroom with a seating area. It was a nice and simple with a couch, chair, desk and television, but I didn't really care about what the room looked like; I was starting to get worried about what could happen while we were in Dallas.

"I got the only suite that was available so that you can leave the bedroom without any worry of sunlight breaking in."

"What if I don't want to leave? I would have been happy to stay in a room that was only a bedroom with you."

Eric smiled at me as he walked into the bedroom signalling me to follow. I watched as he checked the light tight shudders for the room and set new codes for them.

"I know you probably would not mind, but it's summer and the nights are too short," he said from the window. "You do not want to be stuck inside a small room all day. Plus, Quinn will arrive tomorrow and you are to meet and read him. If his intentions are what you believe to be innocent then get him a room with one of your cards."

He looked out the window for a moment before he turned back to me.

"I need to talk to Hauk about being there with you when you meet Quinn. I'm unsure if he wants the tiger to know about his day walking skills. If not, then you can question him in Charlie's room since he'll be next door. If anything goes wrong he will be able to help you."

"Maybe I should wait for you. I'm not sure about all this and I'd feel safer if I was with you."

"There is no need for you to be nervous. I'm only being cautious," he replied. He grasped my hand and took us over to the bed to sit. "It's very hard for me to trust anyone else with your safety, but I know that in most cases that if something happened to you during the day, I wouldn't be able to help you. You have no idea how much I hate that."

Eric caressed the side of my face with the back of his fingers as he looked at me. Once again he was showing me how vulnerable he felt and I knew how much he disliked feeling that way. He'd already been in a situation where I could have died during the day and there was nothing he could do. I knew without reading his mind that he was thinking of that day.

I looked up into his deep, soulful blue eyes and smiled. Just by looking into his eyes I could see how precious I was to him. I never needed words or the bond to know how much I meant to him although he never had any trouble telling how he felt.

I leaned over the slight distance between us and gave him a soft lingering kiss.

"Don't worry about it. You're providing me with the best daytime security that you can," I said with a bright smile. "I love that you worry about me and how you take care of me." I look around the room before settling back on Eric. "So what are we supposed to do next?"

"I need to go over to Godric's and see if I can find any clues as to what happened. I want you to stay here and maybe you and Charlie can get something to eat from room service while I'm gone."

"You don't want me to come with you?" I asked, feeling slightly rejected. I thought he would have wanted me to come with him.

"It will be safer if you stayed here tonight. I don't know what I'll find when I get there, but we should hopefully know more after we visit Godric's house, and I ascertain how someone managed to break in and kidnapped him. Once we have found him, it's most likely that we will be staying there. When we have come to visit him in the past he always demands that we stay at his home with him."

The worry coming off of Eric and my own worry for him was making for a very emotional night. For some unknown reason, I didn't want to be away from him. I knew that there was nothing I could do to keep him safe, but at least if I was with him I'd know he was okay. I couldn't help the tears that sprung up at the corners of my eyes or that my nose had started to tingle. Looking down at my hands in my lap, I tried to get my emotions under control. Eric didn't need this right now. I closed my eyes and took a couple of deep breathes to rein myself in, trying to think logically.

Eric's large cool hand was soon lifting up my chin until I would have been looking him in the eye if my eyes were open. He was quiet, giving me the time I needed. When I opened my eyes, I could see the worry and concern in his own eyes as he had knelt down in front of me.

"Kära en, I don't understand why you are upset. Is this because I want you to stay here? If it is, it's only because I worry for your safety. You know I will always do anything within my power to keep you safe. Explain… please." He finished flustered, but still concerned.

"I don't know if I can explain it since I'm not sure I understand it much myself," I took a deep breathe before I continued. "I'm worried about you and what's going to happen here and I can also feel your worry which is not helping my own."

"Do you want me to decrease the bond or shut it down?" Eric asked causing a slight twinge of pain in my chest. I couldn't stand the thought of him shutting down the bond; I truly loved feeling him even if it was his worry.

"No!" I practically shouted. "No, I don't want you to do anything to the bond." I said more quietly this time. "I'm just trying to tell you how I feel."

"I understand," he said, rising from the ground. He scooped me off the bed and into his arms before he sat down and placed me in his lap. As I laid my head on his shoulder, he started to run his fingers through my hair.

"Finish telling me how you feel." I felt his chest vibrate with his rumbling voice.

"It's like I have a bad feeling that something's going to happen to you and I don't want to let you out of my sight," I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face into the crook of his neck. "I know I can't protect you, but at least if I'm with you I'll know you're safe. Maybe I would read whoever's mind before they could do anything. I don't know."

"Sookie," he replied with his arms wrapping around me even tighter and rocking us slightly from side to side. "I understand the need to know that you are safe and seeing with your own eyes helps relieve yourself of that worry. I too feel that way, but I also know that I'm going to a situation that could be hostile and I would feel much better knowing that you are here and safe. I can do my job more quickly if I'm not looking out for you. We will have to rely on our bond to let the other know that we are okay."

His words made me feel as if I was a burden. My body was human and fragile and he always had to look out for me and make sure that I was safe.

Feeling my mood plummet he let out a sigh before kissing the top of my head. "I want you with me all the time, never doubt that, but sometimes like this case for example, I must push aside our wants and do what needs to be done. It do not know how I would live with myself if you ever got hurt because of my selfish desires." He paused and rocked us back and forth some more before he broke the silence with his voice almost pleading with me. "Please understand. I only do this for your safety not because I do not want you there."

I could feel the truth of his words and his absolute love for me that had me nodding into his neck. He only wanted my safety and it was possible that if I was there he could miss something important and he was worrying about what could happen to me.

"Thank you for understanding," he replied, placing another kiss to the top of my head, but this time his lips lingered there as he took me in. "You haven't had many chances to see it, but I _am_ a warrior and I have lived for over a thousand years; I know how to keep myself safe. I promise. You and Charlie can eat and watch a movie and I'll be back before you know it."

"I don't know why I have this bad feeling. Maybe it's because we're both worried; I don't know. Have I ever told you I had this kind of feeling before?"

Feeling his head shake no, I tried to dismiss my anxiety and give into the wonderful sensation of his arms wrapped around me, the feel of his love for me, and the waves of calm and assurance he was sending me.

"_If you're naked you better get your clothes on. We're on our way to your room." _ Hauk's voice sounded in my head.

I let out a deep breath that I didn't know I was holding before I placed a kiss against Eric's neck and sat up straight on his lap. "Hauk and Charlie on their way. Are you taking Hauk with you?" I asked as I got up off his lap.

Eric stood up and looked down at me with a small smile on his handsome face. "I will to appease you, my beautiful wife. Hopefully it will help you relax."

"You already promised me that you'd take him with you," I said giving him a mock glare. He knew I wasn't serious. I was only worried and I had every right to be worried. Someone knew how to bypass security systems and take down ancient vampires in their homes.

Cupping the right side of my face with one of his large hands, his thumb rubbed across my cheekbone. " l will never promise you anything if I don't think I'll be able to keep my word. Come, let us go greet your friends." His hand dropped from my face to quickly take my hand in his before we walked to the door.

Eric didn't wait for anyone to knock, he went straight to the door and opened before walking off to grab his leather jacket. Charlie and Hauk came inside but had barely moved before Eric was back by my side.

"We'll be back as soon as possible," he said wrapping his arms around me giving me a big hug. He squeezed and lifted me off the ground causing me to giggle before he sat me back down. Turning toward Charlie, his attitude did a complete one-eighty, as he told him in a no-nonsense voice. "I'd like you both to stay upstairs and get room service. Once Quinn has been approved then he will go out with you, but until then I want you two to stay in this room or your room."

"Sure thing, boss man," Charlie replied.

Shaking his head with a slight smile, Eric turned back to me. "I'll be back soon. Relax and eat your dinner." He placed a feather light kiss upon my lips before he took a step back and headed out the door.

"Eric," I called out to him from the doorway as he made his way down the hallway. Both, he and Hauk, turned around. "Be safe."

"I will," he replied and started to turn around, but my voice called to him once again.

"I love you," I whispered.

Before I could take in the change, Eric was standing right in front of me with his lips curled up at the corners. He leaned down and kissed me until I was dizzy. Pulling back until our noses were touching he tucked my hair behind my ear.

"I love you too," he replied. He kissed me once more before he vamped down the hallway and into the elevator where Hauk had just stepped in.

"Come back inside," Charlie called to me, "and let's look at the room service menu because I'm starved. Do you think the foods any good here?" he asked as I closed the door behind me.

"I don't know but I hope so since it looks like we'll be eating a few meals here."

"I would think they'd want to make a vampire's companion happy and with the price it costs to stay at vampire hotel they'd better," Charlie stated absent mindedly while looking at the menu. "How often do you feed Eric?" he asked looking up at me.

"Um… he takes a little bit normally when were intimate, but he never just feeds. He's old so he doesn't need much. Why are you asking?" I thought it was strange that he was asking since he'd been working for us for over six months and had never asked before.

"Just wondering if you need anything high in iron to eat," he says with a shrug as he continued to peruse the menu. "Let's get the steaks anyways. Nothing's better than a good steak. Does that sound okay?" he asked as he made his way over to the phone.

"Sounds fine. I'll try and find a movie for us to watch while we eat."

After finding the remote and nothing on, I went in search of the Pay Per View movies. Charlie had come to sit on the other end of the couch from me as we browsed your options.

"Are you sure you want to buy a twenty-dollar movie?" he asked me.

"There's nothing else on and I can't sit around thinking about what could possibly happen to Eric. I need some kind of distraction. What else are we going to do since we can't leave the room?"

Charlie chuckled, "Do you know how ridiculous it is that you're worried about a vampire who's over a thousand years old?"

"I can't help it. First of all, I love him and there's nothing wrong with me being worried about my husband. Plus, I have this weird feeling that something bad is going to happen and I can't shake it no matter how many times I've been told that he'll be fine and there's nothing to worry about. There's obviously something to worry about when a vampire as old as Godric has been taken from his own home."

"They'll figure out how and who got into his house, but you're right, it isn't good that someone or someone's managed to get into his house. You know you'll probably be getting an updated security system at your house now."

"Eric can install anything he wants and I won't care as long as no one can get in and hurt him."

"And so no one can hurt you," Charlie finished. "Have you decided on a movie yet, the food should be here soon?"

"No, I can't get my mind off of Eric. Do you see any that interest you?"

"We can watch Thor: The Dark World. It's the sequel to Thor and I think you need to have watched The Avengers, but we've already watched them so you should be all set. What do you think?"

"It's fine," I responded flatly. I didn't care what we watched. I know I probably won't be able to pay that much attention to it until Eric gets back."

The next thing I knew we had both eaten our dinners, the movie credits were rolling, and Eric still wasn't back.

"Charlie, do you mind if I go lay down until Eric's back? I'm sorry I'm not better company. I'll try and be better tomorrow."

"Sure thing. Call me when you get up and we'll get breakfast. They've got a pool on the rooftop so maybe we can visit tomorrow after Quinn gets here."

"That sounds like fun. I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for coming, Charlie, and for hanging out with me even though I've been less than entertaining."

"I'm happy to be here and it's no problem. Good night," he replied before giving me a brief hug and heading off to his room down the hall.

I decided to get ready for bed and wait in the bedroom for Eric. I quickly found our suitcase and pulled out one of Eric's t-shirts. After stripping off my clothes, washing my face, and brushing my teeth, I pulled his shirt over my head and inhaled Eric's unique smell. Closing my eyes, I smiled at how even his t-shirt could calm me down slightly. I wasn't sure what it was but the way that Eric smelled always made me feel safe and calm.

Feeling that Eric was getting closer, I turned off the lights and lay down to wait for him. I knew that he was fine so I could finally relax. I was so relaxed that I had fallen asleep by the time he had gotten back. It was his cool skin against my body that woke me up. I slowly turned around to face him and lay my head against his chest, wrapping my arm around him.

"Hey," I whispered and placed a kiss on his hard, strong chest.

"Hey, yourself," he replied, placing his own to the top of my head. "Go back to sleep, Lover. You've been too stressed tonight." He lay his head against the top of mine and wrapped me tighter in his arms.

"I'm fine now that I know that you're okay. What did you find? Any clues?" I asked as I yawned against him.

"There was a struggle so he was definitely taken against his will. There was a blood trail leading from the door that comes from his resting place out to the garage and there was the smell of burnt flesh."

"Anything else? What has you so frustrated?" I asked, rubbing his back with the hand that I had draped over his waist. This was one emotion that I had never felt from him before. Well maybe I felt it a little when he tried to cook me dinner on Valentine's, but it was nothing compared to this.

"From what we could tell there were four different humans and one vampire there besides Godric. It was hard to pick up the scents with the smell of burned flesh being so prevalent and it has also been a few days so they were not as strong. It's the vampire's scent though that has me… I don't know who it is, but I know that I've encountered him or her before. It was so faint, but so familiar."

"So what does it all mean?" I asked. I placed my hands against his chest and pressed a little letting him know that I wanted him to lay on his back. There was no way I could push him if he didn't want me to, but he didn't resist. He simply rolled onto his back waiting for me to make my next move. I made my way to sit on top of him; I rubbed my hands over his arms, chest, and tight stomach and kept repeating the circuit. Slowly his frustration was leaving him and being replaced by lust. His hands came to rest on my hips for a few moments before they started to make their own way up my sides and lightly caress the sides of my breasts before heading back down and along my legs.

"You're getting very good at distracting me," Eric stated huskily.

"You've always been good at distracting me; I just didn't want you feeling so frustrated right before you went to sleep."

My body bounced up and down at Eric's silent chuckle. "Don't laugh at me," I said with a fake pout.

"Only you would be worried about what I was feeling before I 'go to sleep'. It's not like I'm going to have dreams about it. It's like a blink of an eye, one minute I dead to the world and the next I back, but I do prefer going to sleep with you in my arms and a smile on my face."

"Me too." I grabbed his hands and laced our fingers together, holding them out in front of me for balance. "What does the evidence you found mean?"

"There was no sign of a break in which suggests that someone knew how to get into his home. We need to be vigilant about our safety while we're here. Trust no one and read everyone you encounter. Hauk has agreed to be with you when you meet Quinn tomorrow."

"He doesn't mind that he'll know he can be during the day?" I asked.

"If Quinn is to be your guard during the day then he will encounter him at some point. He's read his mind on numerous occasions and believes that the Tiger will be a good guard to you and will be honorable in keeping his secret. I trust his judgement as this is his secret that he's choosing to let be known to someone who cannot be glamoured. Quinn will be a good guard for you when I cannot be there and I have a feeling we might need him."

"Why?" I knew it was serious since I knew he would rather be with me then let me security fall to anyone else.

"I'm afraid that whoever has taken Godric is someone I know. Someone has betrayed Godric and could very well betray any of us."

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Thank you for reading and reviewing! I'm sorry I haven't been responding to reviews as much but real life has been kicking my butt.

I want to thank my wonderful betas Virala and MsBuffy and Meridian who talked me into making this a trilogy and becoming my creative consultant.

As always you can check out the pictures to this and my other stories on : gyllene76 {dot} com

My website will always have the most up to date chapters for all my stories.


	2. Chapter 2- What's In A Name

**Dislcaimer: All characters belong to Charlaine Harris, Alan Ball, HBO, etc. I own nothing and all mistakes are my own.**

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**CHAPTER 2 - WHAT'S IN A NAME…**"What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet."

― William Shakespeare, _Romeo and Juliet_

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I woke up to my phone ringing, then it stopped, and then started ringing again. As quickly as I could, I removed myself from Eric's steel embrace and retrieved my phone as it started ringing once again.

"Hello?" I asked blearily through a yawn.

"Sookie, I'm sorry to wake you," Charlie said, his voice laced with apology, "but Quinn's here. In my room," he whispered the last part.

"Okay. He's not threatening you or anything is he?" I couldn't understand why it seemed to be a big deal that he was in Charlie's room. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I was half asleep.

"No, no. Nothing like that. He's been demanding to see you for the last hour. I'm sorry, but I don't think I can hold him off any longer."

"It's fine. Just give me time to get showered and dressed. What time is it anyway?"

"A little after ten. I'll let him know that you're up and getting ready. Do you want me to order you breakfast?"

"Definitely and make sure you get coffee. Lots of coffee. I may need an entire pot to get through the day. I won't be long. Is Hauk there with you?"

"Not yet. I sent him a text message and he can hear what's going on in here, but he's waiting to come over until you get here. I'm not really sure how much sleep he needs, but I have a feeling he didn't meet the quota."

"Me neither. I'll see you in a few."

I quickly showered, brushed my teeth, got dressed, and grabbed my phone and purse. I gave Eric a kiss, and then I was out the door, off to officially meet who we hoped would become my daytime bodyguard.

Charlie opened the door with a relieved look on his face. I quickly read his mind to see what was happening. Normally Charlie was extremely laid back; I'd never seen him on edge before.

_Thank God she's here. If I had to sit in the same room alone with him any long with him staring at me with those creepy eyes…_

"Charlie, are you okay?" I asked. I knew he was, but he didn't know of my telepathy at the moment since we weren't practicing and I wanted to let him know that I was concerned.

"I'm fine now that you're here. Did you know that the guy we're supposed to met has purple eyes?" he whispered.

"I did. Aren't they pretty?" I asked with a smile. I thought they were and I wasn't sure why they bothered Charlie. I knew that it was quite rare for someone to have purple eyes, but it did happen. He would just have to get used to them.

Charlie's eyes widened at my comment but other than that he didn't respond. I walked around him and patted him on the shoulder.

"Did you order breakfast?" I called out over my shoulder.

"Yeah, it should be here in a few minutes." I heard from behind me.

Quinn was sitting in a chair looking a little impatient when I first spotted him. I probably would have been intimidated by him too if he hadn't been nice on our first encounter.

"Mr. Quinn," I said as I strode toward him with my hand out.

"Mrs. Northman, please just call me Quinn," he replied, standing up to shake my hand.

"Then you must call me Sookie," I answered back.

Quinn looked over at Charlie with a questionable look.

_Is she trying to get me into trouble? Most employers want to go by Mr. or Mrs., definitely not by their first name._

"Call her by whatever she wants. If you don't, boss man won't be happy," Charlie stated as he sat down on the couch.

"Boss man?" Quinn questioned.

"Yeah, Mr. Northman. You do not want to get on his bad side and a sure fire way to do that is by not doing what she asks."

"Charlie, you make it sound like I ask you to do all kinds of things that I shouldn't. You're going to give him a bad impression of me," I said, poking out my bottom lip and plopping down in the chair across from where Quinn had been sitting.

"I didn't mean it like that, I swear. Seriously, they are the best and easiest employers I've ever had. Sookie is not a trouble maker," he said, shaking his head. "She's gotta be one of the sweetest people I've ever met. My only advice is to not let anything bad happen to her. If she got hurt I'm pretty sure Mr. Northman would kill you and possibly anyone else around."

_Doesn't sound too sweet to me. How sweet can she be with a vampire as a husband? With_ Eric _fucking _Northman as _her husband?_

"Thank you, Charlie," I said, letting him hear the annoyance in my voice. He wasn't helping matters talking about Eric killing people if I got hurt.

"I'm sorry about what Charlie said, but I can't say he's lying. If any harm were to come to me while you were around or on duty or whatever you want to call it, Eric would most likely hurt you and maybe kill you," I stated with a sheepish smile. I didn't want to lie to him and I was pretty sure that Eric would be threatening his life later on tonight. He needed to know what he was getting himself into.

"I understand, Mrs…" he started, but at seeing that I was going to correct him, he corrected himself before I could. "I understand, Sookie. Vampires are very possessive by nature. Hell, most Supes are, and if all's said and done and I'm your bodyguard, and you got hurt, then I'd expect something unpleasant from your husband."

"Unpleasant?" Charlie snorted with an eyeroll as there was a knock on the door. "That must be room service."

Charlie left us alone while he got our food and I thought it was a perfect time to ask a very important question before Hauk got here.

"Do you have any problems working for vampires?" I asked. This was the true test. I knew that Weres and vampires didn't get along and if he had a serious problem working for one then we might have a problem.

_Working? No. Being forced to do whatever they want? Yes. Everyone knows of Eric Northman and his reputation, but while he may be a vampire, he's also known to be loyal to those people who have earned his trust and honorable. Hauk vouched for him and there are not many vampires that will do that for another._

"Depends on the vampire," Quinn said, his deep voice breaking me away from his thoughts. "You don't need to worry. I'm not going to try and kill your husband while he's sleeping or anything of that nature. While there are plenty of vampires that I don't get along with I'm not going to hate anyone based on their race."

"Let's eat, guys," Charlie called from the table.

I chuckled and looked at Quinn. "He loves to eat."

"Good," he replied. Upon seeing my questioning look he continued. "I don't know if you know this or not but Weres eat about three times the amount of a normal human."

"I had no idea. Wow! That sounds like a lot."

"You have no idea," he chuckled as we headed over to the table that was covered with different dishes. There was bacon, ham, sausage, scrambled and fried eggs, french toast, waffles, pancakes, toast, bagels, fruit, coffee, milk, and orange juice.

"Did you order everything from the breakfast menu?" I asked once I took in all the food.

"I left a few things," Charlie replied as he piled his plate with food.

"I hope you're hungry," I said to Quinn as I started to load a plate with food. I chose bacon, scrambled eggs, a slice of ham, a waffle with maple syrup, and, of course, coffee. Since the entire table was filled with food we went back to the living area to eat. When I was about halfway through eating my breakfast, Hauk came through the door that connected his room to Charlie's.

"How is everyone today?" he greeted as he sat down beside Charlie on the couch with a bottle of blood. I wasn't sure what the brand was; all I knew was that it wasn't True Blood or Royalty.

Quinn choked when he first saw Hauk walk him the room with the sun hitting him as he made his way over to the couch, and then all he could do was stare. It seemed his brain had nearly shut down over seeing Hauk during the day. I couldn't get anything from him.

_Are you getting anything? I asked Hauk. _It was quite handy that we could communicate telepathically if we had our shields lowered.

_Nothing. I've been reading him since he first arrived and everything seems good. I guess we'll know once he gets over seeing me up during the daytime._

We sat quietly while we waited for Quinn to respond. I started eating the rest of my breakfast as I continued to listen with my shields fully down. I guess one good thing about staying at a vampire hotel was that almost everyone was asleep during the day and I didn't have to worry about my shields. With frequent nips during sex, it was easy to maintain my shields all the time.

After a few minutes of everyone sitting in silence, Quinn's mouth started to open and close. I couldn't get a coherent thought out of him yet so I finished my breakfast as I waited.

"You're a… vampire, right?" he finally asked.

"Hence the blood," Hauk replied lifting his bottle of blood in the air toward him.

"How are you here?"

"I believe I just walked in," Hauk replied with a grin and sipped his drink.

Quinn's awe slightly wore off and he glared Hauk. "How are you awake and in the _sun_?"

_Are the windows UV tinted here? It doesn't matter if they are, it's morning and he's sitting across from me in broad daylight._

"Before I was turned, I was a fairy."

"Have you always been able to be up during the day and out in the sun?" Quinn asked, shaking his head.

_Maybe this is all a dream. Maybe I fell asleep on my way here or while I was waiting on the Sheriff's wife._

"I've always been able to be up during the day, but I'm unsure about being out in the sun. My Maker was not very kind and I was commanded to be by his side while he slept. It wasn't until his true death that I learned I could feel the sun on my skin without it burning me."

"I remember when your Maker died," Quinn replied. "It hasn't been too long ago. Why are you hanging out with Northman when you just got free of your Maker?"

Hauk let out a bellowing laugh, doubling over and clutching his stomach. All we could do was stare at his hysterics until he calmed down. I wasn't sure what he thought was so funny. When I tried to read his thoughts there was only laughter. Hearing his laughter inside and out caused a small smile to form on my own lips, but I still wanted to know what was so funny.

Once he calmed down he wiped away a bloody tear that had escaped from his laughter. "There is no hanging out with Northman. He tolerates me and nothing more because of his wife."

"Now why would he do that? I can't imagine him wanting you around her," Quinn drolled out.

_Sookie? We have to tell him something. He's going to be suspicious if we don't. If he's going to be around as your bodyguard he's going to notice your odd behavior when you read minds and how you came upon your knowledge._

_If we tell him I'm a telepath he's going to know that you're one too. I don't know what to do. I'm not sure we should tell him or what Eric wants him to know. I trust him to be my bodyguard, but not with being a fairy and our telepathy. Maybe in time._

"You'll have to let Northman answer that if you want to know the answer," Hauk finally replied.

Quinn's gazed flickered back and forth between the three of us.

"I get it. I get it," he replied and then popped a piece of sausage in his mouth. "We all gotta earn each others trust. So… do you guys have any questions for me? Am I hired? What am I supposed to do exactly?"

"Eric gets the final say so we'll have to wait until dark and he talks to you. As for what you're supposed to do… I guess if I go out, you're to come with me and make sure that nothing happens to me. I'm not sure if you've been filled in as to why we're in Dallas or not; we're here because Godric, the Sheriff of Area Nine, has been kidnapped from his home. Since he's an old friend of Eric's, we've come to try and help find him." I looked at Hauk to see if I'd covered what I needed and didn't give anything away that I shouldn't have.

"Yes, so we may come to be in some dangerous situations, and if they find out that we're here to help they may come after us."

"What?!" I had never thought of the fact that if we were discovered trying to find Godric that they might come looking for us.

"It's a possibility. We don't know who we're up against," he replied. "What we do know is that there were four humans who were in his house and one vampire. We were unable to identify any of their scents last night, but Northman does know that he's encountered the vampire before. Their scents were already fading since it had already been a few days after he was taken and the smell of burnt flesh was prevalent throughout the area."

"Okay," Quinn stated and then clapped his hands causing Charlie and I to jump. "So we got a bit of mystery to solve."

"Your job isn't to solve a mystery, it's to keep her safe," Hauk looked over at me, "while we try to find Godric. Just make sure you do your job or your life will be forfeit."

"Alrighty then! I think we need to stop talking about killing people and do something a little lighter. Don't you?" Charlie asked,looking over at me.

"Yes," I said, standing up with my hands on my hips. "What are we going to do?"

"There's a pool on the rooftop. Do you want to go up there? Swim? Layout?" Charlie asked.

"I think since Quinn will be with you, I'm going to go back to bed if that's okay with you?" Hauk said, standing up.

"I know you can't go out during the day, but we could stay here if you want," I responded.

"I could use some more sleep and you guys should go have fun. Unless you don't feel comfortable?"

"No, I'm fine. You go sleep and we'll go to the pool. What should I wear?"

"A swimsuit," Charlie replied hesitantly.

"Do I have a swimsuit? Do you think Eric packed one?" I asked looking between Charlie and Hauk.

"You'll just have to look. I can't imagine what he'd pack for you or that he actually packs _anything _at all," Charlie said, shaking his head.

"I'm going to go back to my room and look for a swimsuit. First though, we need to get you a room," I said turning to Quinn.

OoOoO

After getting Quinn a room to stay in until we found Godric, and then dumping out and going through all the clothes that Eric had packed, I found a swimsuit to wear. We all met outside my room, and then made our way up to the rooftop pool.

Charlie whistled as we all looked around and saw that we had the pool all to ourselves.

"This is pretty sweet. Is it always like this at vampire hotels?" he asked as we each found ourselves a lounger to layout on.

"I don't know. The only hotel I've stayed at was in New Orleans and it was winter then," I replied as I took a towel from Charlie and lay it over the lounger before I sat down.

"Surely you've stayed in other hotels before," Charlie stated.

"Of course she has," Quinn said, rolling his head to look at me.

"I'm sure I have. I know I have, but I don't remember them," I said with a shrug. "I think we stayed in a hotel when we went to Norway for our honeymoon."

"Oh, Sookie, I'm so sorry. I keep doing that," Charlie said with a sad look on his face. I liked that he had forgotten that I couldn't remember the first twenty six years of my life. It meant that I wasn't doing something all the time that reminded him of how little I knew when he first met me.

Smiling at Charlie, I said, "It's fine. It's great actually. It means that I've come a long way since you met me."

"You definitely have."

"Can one of you tell me what the hell you're talking about?" Quinn asked gruffly as he peaked out from under his sunglasses.

I looked over at Charlie and he gave me an encouraging nod. "Well… back in January, I was in a really bad car accident and almost died," I started. Quinn sat up giving me his full attention. "It was during the day. I'm not really sure what time, but it was many hours before Eric woke up for the day."

"Woke up for the day?" Quinn interrupted.

"Pfft," I said, waving my hands in the air. "That's what I call it. I don't like saying he's dead for the day or at all so he's asleep and he wakes up."

"You do know that's not really true. Right?"

"I know that I can't call him up right now, but if I really wanted or needed to I could wake him. Anyway on with the accident, I had multiple broken broken bones, severe head trauma, and was unconscious when Eric got to the hospital. He gave me his blood, glamoured them to release me, and then we left. When I woke up the next day I had no memory."

"No memory at all?" Quinn asked with uncertainty.

"None at all," I said, shaking my head.

"You were already married to Northman?" he asked leaning forward.

"Yes, we've been married for four years."

"What did you think when you found out your husband was a vampire?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "It made no difference to me. I would have been just as shocked to find out that I was married to a human or anything else."

"Hmmm. Well as long as you're happy now."

"I am. I don't know what I would have done without Eric there to help me. I would have been so lost. I'm really lucky to have him. So there may be times when I don't know something or someone that I should. Most everyone in Eric's Area knows that I was in an accident since neither Eric nor I was around for a good while afterward and I'm sure they thought I was odd when I did come back, but they've never asked any questions. They are all very loyal, but we don't really want it getting out about my amnesia since there would be plenty who would try and take advantage of that fact."

"I understand and I give you my word that I won't tell a soul without your direct permission."

"Thank you. Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," he said, shrugging his shoulders before he lay back down with his hands behind his head.

"I know you're a weretiger, but I don't really know that much about Weres. Can you shift whenever you want?"

"I can shift whenever I want, but I _have_ to shift when there's a full moon. I take it you don't know any Weres?"

"The dayman we had before Charlie was a Were, but he was fired the first night I met him again after the accident, so no, I don't know any but you."

"What kind of tiger are you?" Charlie asked from his lounger.

"A Bengal," Quinn replied.

I didn't know there were different types of tigers, but luckily he pictured what he looked like after he shifted. He was a huge! He was a good choice for a bodyguard. I don't think anyone would mess with him as a human or as a tiger. I could see why Eric had chosen him.

"I don't know about you guys but I'm getting hot. I'm going to jump in the pool to cool off and then I'm thinking we could order lunch up here. What do you think?"

Quinn's brows furrowed. "I thinking that you think about food more than me," he said with a laugh, "but yeah, that sounds good."

"Cool. I'll be back in a bit," he said as he stood and walked over to the pool.

"How long has he worked for you?" Quinn asked as we watched Charlie dive into the pool creating a huge splash.

"A little over six months," I said with a smile as I watched Charlie surface from his dive.

"You like him," Quinn stated.

"What's not to like? He's a good friend."

"He's an employee."

"Yes, he's an employee and a friend. His job has been to take me places during the day since I didn't know where anything was. It's an easy job. He's introduced me to a lot of foods that I would have never tried if it wasn't for him. Before meeting him, I went off what was in my pantry and what Eric told me I liked since I couldn't remember what I liked or how to cook. Charlie's done a good job of teaching me to cook. I was trying on my own by watching cooking shows and reading from my Gran's cookbook, but it would take me forever to cook myself a meal even with Eric's help."

"Northman helped you cook?" he questioned with a disbelief.

"Yeah, it was funny since neither one of us knew how to cook. Well, he knew more than me, but only a few simple things."

"I still can't picture him in the kitchen cooking," he said, shaking his head and chuckling to himself. "Not with the reputation he has."

"I'm sure the more time that you're around him you'll realize that he can be a good guy when he's not in the public eye."

Quinn chuckled again. "We'll see about that, but I guess he can't be that bad if you're still with him. You seem like a sweet girl."

"Thanks, and you'll see," I said, smiling.

"So the bar had menus for the restaurant downstairs," Charlie said as he handed us each a menu. "Maybe tonight we can eat down there or somewhere else now that you've got a bodyguard."

"I'm sure if we don't want to eat room service again we can eat elsewhere, Charlie."

"Good. I don't want to be stuck inside my room all night."

"I don't know what the plan is for tonight, but if I'm with Eric you don't have to stay in your room. You can go out and do whatever you want."

"Cool. Hmmm… I think I'm going to have the ribs," Charlie said after looking over his menu one final time.

"Ribs at the pool?" Quinn questioned.

"Yeah, why not?"

"Just seems like a strange place to eat ribs," Quinn stated.

Charlie only shrugged his shoulders as he called over a waiter from the bar so that we could order.

As I ate my turkey club and Quinn ate his cheeseburger, we watched Charlie dig into his lunch. It did seem that ribs were a little too messy to be eating outside at the pool since Charlie's fingers, mouth, and chin were covered in barbecue sauce. Instead of wiping it off with the only napkin he had left when he was done, he jumped into the pool to get rid of the sauce. Quinn and I could only laugh as we watched him scrub his face with the pool water and the looks on the waiter and bartender's faces.

"I think we should get out of here before they kick us out," I said as I stood and started to collect our stuff.

"They're not going to kick you out. You're a vampire's companion and they don't want to piss him off. You could practically do anything you wanted and they wouldn't say a word."

They wouldn't say it but if I wanted, I could hear it and I didn't want them thinking badly about us. I didn't want us to be known as troublemakers and if they didn't like us and trouble came looking for us, they might give us away.

"Still I think I'm done for the day," I said as I continued to gather our stuff. "I'm going to take a nap until Eric gets up. I didn't get much sleep since I was up until almost dawn. I guess you could say I pretty much have vampire hours. Well, I can't sleep that long in the summer, but I try to spend as much time with Eric that I can since there's so little night time hours during the summer."

"Got it. I'll try and adjust my hours since I know you'll be asleep until afternoon, but don't worry. Weres don't need as much sleep as humans unless we are hurt and healing." Grabbing his phone, he looked at it for a minute before responding. "You have about four hours until sunset."

"I'd better go and get some sleep then. I'm sure Eric will want to start the night as soon as the sun's down. Are you going to stay here?" I asked.

"Naw, I'll walk you to your room and try to get some sleep too. Hey Charlie!" Quinn yelled the last part. "We're going to head down to our rooms and get a nap in before tonight. You coming?"

"You guys go ahead. I'll be down later."

"I'll see you later, Charlie," I called out to him as we passed him. "I'm gonna take a nap before Eric gets up."

"You do that," he said with a mischievous smile.

OoOoO

I woke up to Eric nuzzling my neck, his arms and one leg wrapped around me. Moaning, I snuggled in closer to his chest and tightened the arm I had around him.

"Good evening, Lover," Eric huskily greeted me as he placed kisses along my neck. "You smell of the sun and me, the perfect combination. Mmmm," he groaned.

"Thank you for being here when I woke up," he said, the last as he nipped at my ear.

"Eric," I moaned out. "I'm almost always with you when you wake up. There's no need for you to thank me."

"I'm thankful for every night that I wake up and you are by my side."

"Good, because I plan for you to wake up with me by your side for the next thousand years or so," I said as I trailed kisses down his chest until I reached the deep 'V' of his hips and began to lick him until I reached his rock hard cock.

"Mmmmm, nothing would make me happier, Lover," he purred as I continued my way down.

I licked him from his base all the way up until I reached his tip where I sucked hard since it was already leaking precum.

"Fuck," Eric moaned. His hands quickly gathered my hair and his hips flexed a little, searching for something more than my lips.

With a small chuckle, I took him as far as I could into my mouth and what I couldn't take, I used my hands. My name was a sacred chant from his lips and I took my time pleasuring him. As I picked up speed, I hollowed out my cheeks and trailing my tongue along on the way up. I watched as the firm muscles of his stomach tensed as his hand in my hair tightened, and I could tell that he was teetering on the edge of ecstasy. With a smile around his cock, I grazed my teeth along his length and he came hard and long down my throat.

I kissed the tip of his head before crawling back up his body and snuggled against his chest. His hands traveled up and down my bare back and I sighed against his touch.

"I don't want to get up," I said as I trailed my hand along his stomach.

"I wish we could lay in bed all night but we have a meeting with Stan Davis. We need to out of this bed and get ready. Do you want to eat dinner here or do you want to go somewhere else?"

"Are Charlie and Quinn coming?" I asked as I continued to rest my head against his chest.

"If you want them. How was your day by the way? I'm sorry I didn't ask sooner but you provided quite the distraction when I woke up," he said, wiggling his eyebrows. "I'm guessing Quinn passed the double telepaths test."

"It was a good day except that I was woken up too early. Quinn passed," I said, hesitating for a moment.

"What is it?" Eric asked cupping my face and tilting my head to look at him.

"I told him about my amnesia but not about being a fairy or a telepath. He wanted to know why Hauk was 'hanging out' with you, but we told him that was for you to tell. Hauk said he'll probably become suspicious but that's all I felt comfortable with telling him. I trust him to be my bodyguard but not with our secrets."

"Good," he replied kissing me softly before speaking against my lips. "That's how it should be and you may never feel comfortable telling him. He'll know what he needs to know. The least amount of people who know, the better, and if you ever hear anything from him that you don't like or makes you not trust him, I want you to let me know."

"I will," I said, giving him one final kiss before getting out of bed and heading into the bathroom to turn on the shower.

"I'm going to send Charlie a message letting him know that we're going to dinner after we get ready and to let Quinn and Hauk know," I said over my shoulder as I dug through my bag to find my phone.

"I'll meet you in the shower. I'm not done with you yet," he replied as he retreated into the bathroom, causing my body to shiver in anticipation.

OoOoO

"I asked around about restaurants and there's supposed to be a great Mexican restaurant just around the corner. We can walk if you want," Charlie said when we met him, Hauk, and Quinn downstairs.

"Sounds good to me. How 'bout you?" I asked Quinn.

"I'll eat just about anything," he replied with a smile. "Maybe you should ask the vampires though."

"They have names," I replied, each word filled with anger. Our situation wasn't going to work if they couldn't even call each other by their names.

"I know. Sorry," Quinn said looking a little sheepish until he saw the smiles on Eric and Hauk's faces.

"As long as they have blood available we'll be fine," Eric stated, wrapping his arm around my shoulder as we followed Charlie.

"I highly doubt they have anything but True Blood; nothing like what you're used to," Hauk stated as he smirked at me. "I'll be fine. I plan to find a donor when we get to the King's house."

We all stopped and stared once we made it to the restaurant. It certainly didn't look like much and it was in a strip mall, but as long as the food was good, I didn't care.

"Do you still not care?" Quinn asked after he took another look.

"If it's acceptable for you then I'll make do. If I have to I won't breathe." Looking down at me Eric said, "If you don't want to eat here, let me know and we'll find some place else."

We walked in and the restaurant was hardly busy, but it looked nice and clean. I think Charlie had started to get nervous that it would be a dump and Eric wouldn't approve. I ordered cheesy bean dip,and guacamole for my chips, and chicken fajitas. As for Quinn and Charlie, I think they ordered at least one of everything on the menu. Neither Eric nor Hauk ordered a blood.

Eric scrunched up his nose when he saw that they didn't even offer True Blood. They only had Red Stuff which was cheap and even more disgusting than True Blood according to Eric.

While we ate, Eric spoke quietly on the phone in Old Norse to whom I was assuming was Pam. Normally they spoke in Swedish, but I guess he thought it was possible that Hauk could understand what they were saying. I had checked to see if he understood what they were saying a time or two. Luckily he didn't; Eric had started to trust him but I knew he wouldn't like it if Hauk could understand all their private conversations. I knew Eric spoke many languages but I think Pam only knew a few.

"Are you not uncomfortable watching us eat?" Quinn asked Hauk and Eric, after he had consumed half of his meal.

Hauk only shook his head and went back to his conversation with Charlie about what he was going to do while we went to the Stan Davis' house.

"I'd be a pretty shitty husband if I couldn't stand to be around my wife while she ate."  
Eric squeezed the shoulder his hand was draped across. I gave him a smile and continued to eat. I was about halfway done while Charlie and Quinn were close to finishing. I didn't want everyone waiting for me to finish when we had plenty to do tonight.

Quinn let out a deep rumbling chuckle. "Hell, there are plenty of human men who can't stand to be around their wives when they eat, but good for you," he said, tipping his beer toward us.

Eric let out a sigh before kissing the top of my head. "Let's get this out of the way. I don't know what you've been told, but your top priority is keeping Sookie safe, no matter what she says or does. She's probably going to want to be your friend; that's just who she is and that's fine, be her friend, but remember you also have a job to do. If she gets hurt under your watch the first thing I'll do is neuter you and move on from there until you'll wish for a quick death. Do we understand each other?"

"We do," Quinn gave him a slight nod.

"What's neuter?" I asked.

Charlie choked on his bite of food and Quinn spit out the drink he had in his mouth when I asked the question, causing me to furrow my brows in confusion. No one had that type of reaction when Eric said it.

Eric chuckled and picked up my hand kissing my knuckles. "It means to remove an animal's sexual organ. In his case, his testicles."

"Eric," I whisper yelled. "Would he be able to have sex after that?" I questioned quietly.

Letting out a loud, booming laugh, Eric doubled over and had to wipe away a blood tear before he finally calmed down.

"It would significantly decrease his need and desire to do so," he replied flatly after a moment of composing himself.

"That's not nice," I replied with a frown. I knew how much Eric and I enjoyed sex and if someone cut off his testicles and it made him not want sex anymore, neither one of us would be happy.

"I know. It's not supposed to be nice. He knows that I'm serious and if he doesn't want it to happen, he'll keep you safe. It's that simple."

OoOoO

"Were you talking to Pam on the phone?" I asked as we walked back to the hotel to get our car and head to the King's house.

"Yes, I was informing her of the new security upgrades I'm having installed at our house, her house, and at Fangtasia, and that I need for her to be there when they finish so that she can glamour them."

"Told ya," Charlie called out from behind us.

Feeling Eric's slight annoyance that we had an audience, I hugged myself to him as we walked. Eric values his privacy and isn't quick to open up to someone. I knew that if it was up to him, it would only be me, him, and occasionally Pam, but he put up being around Charlie and Hauk for me and now we had added another to our group.

"Charlie was telling me last night how you'd probably want to upgrade our security with this new threat out there," I explained.

"I only want you safe," he said quietly, squeezing me a little tighter.

"That's what I said. I don't care what you have installed as long as it keeps you safe."

_I love that you worry for me, dear one._ I heard Eric send to me.

"Always."

We arrived back at the hotel and Eric handed over our ticket to the valet. Charlie and Quinn both started to go inside until I called them back.

"Is Quinn not coming with us?" I asked confused.

"I don't believe he'd be very welcomed at the King's house. If I cannot be with you then Hauk can stay with you. There's nothing to worry about, you're my bonded mate. No vampire will bother you, but you need to remember we're not in my Area anymore. We have to go by someone else's rules while we're here," he explained.

"I remember," I quietly responded. That's what had me worried. I didn't know the rules here or how they treated humans. I only knew that most vampires didn't treat humans very well. They were treated like pets if they were lucky.

"No need to be worried," he said against my temple as he placed a kiss there. "I won't let anything happen to you."

"I know you won't," I said, placing a kiss on his chest. Pulling away slightly, I turned toward Charlie and Quinn. "I guess I'll see you guys later. I'll call you tomorrow after I wake up," I said the last part to Charlie.

"See you tomorrow," Charlie waved back.

The drive from the hotel to the King's house took around half an hour with all the traffic in the city, even with Eric driving.

We pulled up in front of this huge three-story mansion on a hill. I'd never seen anything like it before, at least not that I could recall. There weren't houses like this in Louisiana.

Looking over at Eric, he had a small smile on his face from feeling my wonderment of the house before us.

"Does he really need such a big house?" I asked as I took off my seatbelt.

Eric left out a slight chuckle from my side of the car as he held his hand out to assist me.

"This is his royal residence. He has many who live here that work for him. If you haven't noticed we vampires like to live in luxury," he explained.

"I never thought about it. I thought it was normal."

"Good, then I'm doing my job." He placed a kiss to the palm of my hand before putting it in the crook of his elbow. We silently walked to the front door where we were stopped by a guard.

"Northman and party. I have an appointment with His Majesty."

The guard called through some sort of headset to get confirmation of our appointment. From his mind I read that he already knew we were supposed to arrive, but they had no idea why Eric wanted to see their king. I gave his arm a squeeze and sent him my satisfaction that all was well so far.

We were escorted through the royal residence until we came to a living room that was being used as a waiting room.

The three of us sat quietly on a couch until the king was ready to receive us. Hauk and I dipped into the heads of each vampire and human who was on the compound. Neither of us found anything that we could use to find Godric or that they had any ill will toward us.

A young good looking man with dark skin and blue eyes, dressed in jeans, a white shirt and a jacket came out from around the corner straight toward us. Eric looked over at him when he felt me tense up, but sent his approval of the man.

"Mason," Eric nodded to him.

"Mr. Northman," he replied back with a nod, first to Eric, then me, and Hauk.

"Do you have anything new to report?" Eric asked him in a quiet tone so that only we could hear him.

"I'm afraid not," Mason said, his eyes misted with tears.

Eric gave him another nod before he introduced us.

"Mason, you know Sookie and Hauk. Stay here until I'm done with the king and we'll talk later."

"Yes, sir." He sat down in a chair next to Hauk before he got out his phone and started typing away.

"Mr. Northman," a pretty brunette purred at Eric. "His Majesty will see you now." I watched as she looked at him from head to toe before licking her lips.

Eric stood with a hand out for me to take until Ms. Liplicker informed us that only Eric could go back and see the King. I knew that if I read her mind I would not like what I found so I asked Hauk to do it. We had to make sure she was not a threat to us or if she knew any information on Godric. She wasn't a threat; she only wanted to fuck my husband according to Hauk.

"Stay with her," Eric directed to Hauk before he followed Ms. Liplicker.

"I don't like her," I whispered to Hauk.

He looked at me letting out a light chuckle but otherwise didn't respond.

"Mason?" I asked the young man sitting to Hauk's side.

"Yes, ma'am," he replied looking up from his phone.

"Do you know Godric?"

"Yes, ma'am. I'm his dayman," he said giving me a strange look.

"Do you happen to have a picture of him that we could see? It would help with our search if everyone knew what he looked like."

"I'm afraid I don't. You know how he is," he said with a light laugh.

Actually I had no clue how he was, but Mason had been there on a few occasions when I had met with both him and Godric. I watched as he mentally went through a few of those times. Luckily when I had asked for the picture he had thought about what Godric looked like so now I knew.

It was surprising to see a vampire over two thousand years old looking like a teenager. He wasn't tall and had short brown hair, and blue eyes. He had with tattoos peeking out from underneath his shirt.

Hauk gave me a slight nod letting me know that he had received the image as well.

"Yeah, of course I know him. What was I thinking?" I was thinking I had no clue who Mason or Godric was. Luckily now that my telepathy had returned it was easier if I was around someone whom I had known before, but didn't remember something they were talking about being as they normally thought about it as they were speaking. I would just listen to their minds and surmise at what they expected to hear.

We continued to sit quietly while we waited for Eric to return. I was moving from one mind to the other to see if anyone had any thoughts about Godric, but I was coming up empty. It didn't look as if anyone here was part of his kidnapping or knew anything of it, but then again just because they weren't thinking about it didn't mean they weren't complicit.

_I know that most delectable smell. It smells like Sookie but… what would she be doing here in Dallas. No one knows I'm here._

What the hell was Bill Compton doing in Dallas?

"_Bill Compton is here." _ I sent to Hauk.

I could tell that he was trying to pinpoint his exact location, but before he had the chance, Bill came walking in the room trying to look as if he didn't know I was there.

"Sookie, what a surprise. What are you doing here and where is your husband?" he asked looking around for Eric.

_Maybe she finally left him. I wonder what did it? No matter what I tried I could never get Eric to cheat or feed on anyone I sent to attempt and seduce him away. I can't believe Eric Northman's fucking faithful to his wife. It must be her blood. She smells better than anything I've ever smelled in my life. I need to taste her to find out._

_Hmmm. Maybe I can glamour her into following me into one of the bedrooms here. I bet if he found her and saw with his own eyes that she was with another man he'd leave her. I only need to wait until I can get that vampire that's always with her out of the room. Why is he always around? Is Northman sharing now?_

I was trying with everything in me to hide what I was hearing from Bill. He had checked himself out of Area Five about a month ago and we were hoping we'd never see him again, or at least not for a few hundred years.

We knew he had been trying to split us apart from the first night he had shown up at Fangtasia. It seemed as if he hadn't given up on that fantasy quite yet, but there was no way in hell he would ever taste my blood.

"I'm right here," Eric said from behind Bill.

"_Are you okay?" _Eric sent to me as he glanced at me. I gave him a slight nod and wished that I could send my own thoughts to him as I could with Hauk. It would definitely make life so much easier.

"A pleasure as always, Sheriff. What brings you to the Area?"

"I think a better question is what business you have here, Compton" Eric narrowed his eyes and Billy sneered in response.

"Northman, bring your wife and let's finish our meeting." An angry voice called out from the office Eric had been in before Bill could respond.

Stepping around Bill, Eric helped me up and we made our way into the office. Once the door was closed, he turned to me telling me not to be worried and that everything was fine.

"I heard you run into Compton out there," the man behind the desk said. "I'm still trying to figure out what he's doing in my state. The only answer he's given that's checked out is that he's been released from Sophie-Anne's court."

Eric led me to one of the two chairs in front of the desk, and then we sat down. I scanned the king who was oddly wearing glasses, khaki's, and a white short sleeved button up shirt. I'd never seen a vampire with glasses before. Why would a vampire need glasses?

"_Do vampires ever need glasses?"_ I sent to Hauk.

"_No!"_ He sent back with mental laughter.

"Your Majesty," Eric bowed his head. "This is my wife, Sookie."

"Nice to meet you, Sookie," he replied with a nod. "I'm the King of Texas, Stan Davis."

_Stanislaus Davidowitz_

"Nice to meet you too, Your Majesty," I said with a head nod.

"If you ever get tired of this giant, come see me. I'm sure I could show you a good time," he said with a smirk.

"I'm sorry but I'm quite attached to my husband," I replied with smile toward Eric.

"Stop flirting with my wife," Eric growled out.

"It's all in good fun. It's nice to meet the woman who finally tamed the great Eric Northman. Now back to business, if you need any assistance, just let me know. No one kidnaps a vampire in my state, let alone one of my Sheriffs I know you were called in by his progeny to help locate him, but I want to be informed of any leads you receive."

"As you wish."

"If that is all, you may leave. I have many more meetings tonight and one of them is with Compton," he said the last part with a sneer.

I guess he wasn't a fan of Bill's either. Good to know.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Sookie," Stan said as he stood and walked around in front of me.

"You too, Your Highness."

"Call me Stan," he said, looking at Eric with a sly grin.

"Stop flirting," Eric growled good naturally.

"I can't help it," Stan chuckled. "To see you attached to a human. Married!"

"Let's go before I become the King of Texas," Eric said, leading me out by the hand.

When we walked out we saw Bill standing in the corner of the room, so Eric nodded his head for Mason and Hauk to follow us.

"We can't talk here. Meet us at the hotel," Eric said when we all reached the car.

"Yes, sir," Mason replied before quickly making his way to his own car.

"I'll get a ride from him and give you two some privacy," Hauk said and then vamped over to Mason's car.

"What was that about?" Eric asked once we were on the road.

"I think Hauk likes Mason, like _likes_ him, unless it's because you have something you need to tell me."

"What would I have to tell you?" he asked as he laced our fingers together.

"I don't know. Something Stan told you?"

"You didn't listen in?" He questioned with a quirked eyebrow.

"Nope. You know I try to give you your privacy and I was busy listening to everyone else in that enormous house. There had to be at least thirty humans and twenty vampires."

"I'm guessing you heard nothing if we're talking about who Hauk might like."

"Nothing, sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about," he let out a sigh. "We have no leads as to where he is, and I can't figure out who that vampire was there on the premises."

"I'm sorry, honey,"I replied, putting my other hand on top of our linked hands.

"Honey?" He asked in an amused tone.

"I don't know. I felt like I should use a term of endearment, but I don't really have one for you, and you have so many for me. Would you rather I call you baby?"

Eric whipped his head toward me with a look of horror on his face. "Never."

I wanted to laugh at his response but I could tell he really didn't like it.

"What would you have me call you then besides your name?"

"Sex God?"

"Be serious. That would not have been appropriate in the situation. Did I never have any endearments for you?"

"Yes, but they were mostly when you were feeling saucy and/or horny. Not trying to make me feel better," he said, looking out the windshield.

"What were they? Maybe I'll like them and start using them again."

"Viking."

"Adonis."

"Sex God. Normally you'd get all possessive and add a 'my' in front of them," he said with a sexy smirk.

"Did you like it when I used them?"

"Of course I did, but you can't call me baby. I'm over a thousand years old."

"I wouldn't be calling you a baby or that you act like one. It's like a different way of saying I love you."

"I still don't like it."

"Okay, I'll see if I can come up with something else. It's not fair you got all the good ones," I said with a fake pout.

He lifted our joined hands and kissed my hand as we pulled up to the hotel. We made our way to our room to wait for Hauk and Mason to arrive.

Sitting down beside Eric I decided to play with him a little bit before our guests got there. He turned off his phone and sat it down on the table beside him the moment I was beside him.

"What do you think about honey buns or buttercup?" I asked, picking up his hand and playing with his fingers.

"You know I don't mind you eating, but I don't want to be called anything that has to do with food."

"So no sugar-booger then?" I said as I tried to hide my smile.

"No sugar-booger," he replied his lips twitching in an attempt to try and not smile.

"No… love muffin?"

"No," he said shaking his head before he snatched me from my seat next to him to deposit me on his lap and started to tickle me.

"Please no. Stop," I squeaked out as I tried to pry his hands from my stomach.

"You want me to stop?" he whispered next to my ear.

"Yes, please."

"As you wish," he said, pulling away and sitting up straight with a smirk on his face.

"Mack daddy?"

Eric chuckled silently, locking his eyes with mine. "Where did you come up with these names?"

I pointed to my temple. "When I've read people."

"This made you want to call me these names?" he asked tilting his head.

"Not until tonight. I feel like I should have something else to call you, a term of endearment. You call me them all the time."

"You'll come up with something," he said as he started to rub my back. I laid my head down on his shoulder and tried to come up with the most ridiculous name I could think of.

"Snugglesome hugglesome?" I asked laughing into his shoulder.

Eric let out a bark of a laugh. "Please tell me you've never heard anyone say that before."

"No, but it's perfect. You like to snuggle and hug." I tried to say with a straight face.

"I only like those things with you and that has to be the most ridiculous name ever," he replied.

"See it's perfect for you. I'm the only one who will call you it. You know you like it, snugglesome hugglesome."

"Now you've asked for it," he said before he pinned me down on the couch. Straddling my hips, he took both of my hands in one of his and pinned them above my head before tickling my sides.

"You can't tickle me when you secretly love it," I screeched.

"I can and I will," he replied with a big smile on his face and continued his assault on me.

"Please, I might pee my pants if you continue," I pleaded with him, but his only response was to shake his head and keep tickling me.

"I'll do anything you want," I half laughed, half pleaded. "Please, Eric. Stop," I cried out with a laugh.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

"Saved by the knock," I said with a breathless laugh. Eric grinned at me as his eyes traveled down to my lips.

"Lucky you," he rasped, letting go of my wrists and planting a firm and promising kiss on my lips.

It only took him three strides to answer the door. Opening the door wide, Hauk, Mason, and then Quinn all stepped in, scanning the room.

"Why are you guys looking around and acting all weird?" I asked as I sat up on the couch.

"We could hear you screaming from the end of the hall," Hauk said smirking.

"As you can see I'm fine. Eric was tickling me and I was trying to get him to stop," I said. He sat down next to me and I gave him a mock glare/pout.

They continued to stand there only this time they were staring at us. "Do you want something to drink?" I asked as I stood and went to the mini refrigerator in the room.

I received a round of I'm fine but thanks from everyone. I needed something to drink after all of my laughing and screaming so I got a bottle of water before I went back to the couch.

"Please, everyone sit. I don't know about you guys but I'm tired. This feels like the longest day of my life and I'd like to get some sleep soon."

Eric reached out and placed me on his lap, positioning us so that we could look at everyone.

"If you're too tired you can go to bed and someone can inform you of what we talked about tomorrow," he said quietly.

"No, I want to know what's going on. It shouldn't take too long, should it?" I asked as I lay my head down on his shoulder.

"Not long at all," he said as he wrapped one arm around me and the other started to rub my back.

"According to Mason, there's been no suspicious activity around the house or any type of ransom demands. I found out from my meeting with Stan this evening that he knew nothing about Godric's disappearance until tonight. He hasn't heard of any other attempts or know of anyone else missing. The Fellowship have been unnaturally quiet the last few months in the state."

Picking up my hand, he started playing with my fingers. I felt him take a deep breath before letting out a heavy sigh.

"Unfortunately, we have no leads and no one really knows where to go from here. Wherever Godric is he's blocking his bond to his child and it will be another couple of days before he can make his way here. We need to find him before then because for all we know he could be running out of time."

"There's only one thing I can think to do and I don't want to do it, but it might be our only chance to find anything out. Unless you found something tonight that I don't know about?" he asked, looking at Mason first and then Hauk.

They both shook their heads no and looked down.

"Sookie, I think you and Quinn should go to Godric's house during the day and see if you can find anything. Mason can let you in when you get there. Are you willing to do that?" he asked tilting up my chin with his thumb and forefinger.

"If you think it's the only way then of course I'll do it."

"What do you think they'll find out during the day? Are you a private detective and I didn't know about it?" Quinn asked the last part to me.

"Let them worry about what they can find and how. Just make sure you do your job."

"Okay. I get it. Something else is going on here, but you can't talk about it right now. I can understand that."

"Good. Mason, I'll program your number into Sookie's phone in case they need anything tomorrow. Anything else we need to talk about?"

When everyone stayed silent, Eric said. "All right there's less than a couple of hours until sunrise and my wife's tired. We'll meet again at sunset and go from there."

Sitting me down on the couch Eric rushed everyone out of the room before he scooped me up and deposited me on the bed before he started taking off my clothes. Once all my clothes were off, he picked me up again and placed me under the blankets. He then quickly undressed and slid into bed behind me.

"Sleep now, my Sookie," he said as he spooned up behind me. He wrapped an arm and a leg around me, and then lay his head down behind me on my pillow. "Please be safe tomorrow. I hate that I'm putting you in danger. If you feel uncomfortable or unsafe in any way I want you to come back to the hotel right away, no matter what. Promise me." His grip on me tightened and I could feel his overwhelming worry for me.

"I promise," I said with a big yawn. "Good night, snugglesome hugglesome. I love you. Always."

"Good night, my beautiful wife," he said, his lips caressing my ear. He placed a kiss beneath my ear before he buried his nose in my hair. "I love you, du är mitt allt."

* * *

Thank you to everyone who's read Lover's Amnesia and has moved on to Lovers Always. I want to thank my lovely betas Virala and MsBuffy for all your help.

As always if you want to view pictures to my chapters or read the most up to date chapters go to: gyllene76 {dot} com


	3. Chapter 3 - One Found, One Down

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Charlaine Harris, Alan Ball, HBO, etc. I own nothing. All mistakes are mine.

* * *

"Hey," I said the moment Eric's eyes popped open.

"Hey yourself," Eric replied, snaking his arm around me and pulling me on top of him. "You found a lead," he said as a statement, not a question.

"How'd you know?" I asked, sitting up and straddling his lean hips.

His hands moved to my waist. "Could be the big smile on your face, or that you're bubbling with excitement. What did you find?"

"So before we went to Godric's house, we went to lunch at some barbecue place."

"Charlie went with you," he stated.

"Yes. How'd you know?" I asked again.

A sweet smile spread across his face as he cupped one side of my own. "I know you, and you would have been happy eating shitty drive-thru so you could try to find out any information as soon as possible."

"That may have crossed my mind," I said smiling. Eric knew me well, almost too well sometimes. It was hard to surprise him when it seemed he could almost read my mind.

"But it worked out for the best because as we were sitting and waiting for our food, I noticed a group of men at a table close to us. A couple of them were pretty beaten up so I decided to read that group next, and I saw Godric in one of their thoughts. These were the guys from different shifts that are guarding him, and he's been putting up quite the fight even though he's being restrained by silver."

Fury and pride rushed through me as Eric let out a low growl and gripped my hips a little tighter.

Laying my hands on his chest, I stroked him soothingly while I waited for him to calm down. His fury felt like my own; making me want to rush out of the room and attack the people who had taken this unwilling and ancient vampire from the safety of his resting place. I felt a sense of duty to help him the same way he had helped Eric in getting rid of his Maker.

"I am sorry, dear one. I did not mean for my emotions to overwhelm you. Please forgive me and continue," he said, caressing my cheek with his thumb.

"You have nothing to be sorry for; you only want to avenge your friend. So, the man only thought of Godric as he winced from taking a bite out of his food. I knew I needed to get him to think about Godric again."

"How'd you do that, my smart wife?"

"Quinn probably thinks I'm crazy, unloyal to you, or worse," I stated looking down.

"I doubt that," he said as his hands moved to my arms, where he started to rub up and down.

"You weren't there and didn't hear what I said," I replied as tears welled up in my eyes and then silently streaked down my face.

Eric sat up as soon as the first tear spilled over and had me cradled in his arms. "Please don't cry, Lover. I cannot bare to see you cry."

Laying us down, he kept me tight to his chest as he lightly hummed for a few minutes until I calmed down enough to talk.

"Better now?" He asked, placing a kiss on the top of my head. I nodded and clutched myself to him a little tighter before I could continue.

"What did you say to get the man to think of Godric?" He asked quietly from the top of my head.

"I quickly whispered to Charlie that I was practicing, so he'd play along. It wouldn't have worked without him," I said with a sniff.

"He's a good employee... and friend to you. I'll have to think of something to do to reward him."

Nodding my head once again, I whispered into his chest. "You know I love you, right?"

"Yes, just as you know I love you," he proclaimed before he pulled back and brushed his lips against mine. "I know whatever you said was only to get information, and you didn't mean it. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he said quietly as he rubbed his nose against mine.

"I need to tell you... I want to before you hear it from Quinn."

"No matter what you said I wouldn't believe him, but if you need to then I want you to," he said, hugging me back into his chest.

OoOoO

Flashback

"I heard that Dallas has a big population of vampires. Didn't you?" I asked Charlie

"Big, but not as big as New Orleans," Charlie replied, not really knowing where I was going with my statement

"I was scared to go out at night and run into one or a horde of them," I said with a dramatic shiver.

"I don't think you need to worry about a horde, if it's even called that."

"Not worry? Of course, I'm worried. What chance would I possibly have if I encountered one or more? They'd just glamour me and suck all of my blood out and once they were done they'd rape my lifeless body!"

"Where'd you hear that?" Charlie asked me.

"From my friends at the Fellowship. They said that vampires have no morals and care about nothing and nobody. They don't care who they kill. They're Satan's spawn," I spat the last part out for good measure.

Quinn sat there with his mouth hanging open. Charlie, too, for a second before he came up with something to say. I didn't really hear him though because it was in that moment the man thought of the Fellowship church and that they had captured a vampire they were doing experiments on. Someone had been telling them of every vampire weakness and how to easily capture them. He didn't know much, only that they had given him a special gun to use during his shift.

I could tell he was afraid of Godric now though. It was his job to give him a little bit of True Blood, and, a couple of nights ago, he got too close. Godric attacked him and beat him up pretty badly before the other guards got in there and subdued him.

"I hope that I never encounter a vampire since they are all evil, but if I ever do than I'm prepared since I keep a stake in my purse at all times. Also, it looks as if we don't have anything to worry about because it seems as if they don't hunt people in highly populated areas. As long as we keep doing what we were doing, we're unlikely to run into where they live or hunt." It was that moment when he pictured where they were keeping Godric. It was some old warehouse.

End of Flashback

OoOoO

"I showed Hauk everything when we got back from Godric's house."

"You still went?" He asked, but I could tell his mind was more on the thought of the warehouse.

"What was I to do? Say I read someone's mind at the restaurant and I sort of know where Godric is? Plus I thought there could have been a small possibility that I might find out more there, but I didn't."

"You did brilliantly. I'm so proud of you," he said as he moved on top of me and kissed me until I was breathless.

I lay panting for a few moments, both of us on our sides. I watched as my breath hit Eric's hair and made it flutter around for a brief second. He was deep in thought about the warehouses in the area.

When I finally caught my breath, I leaned over, kissed his chest, and made my way back up to his mouth. Eric smiled against my mouth before giving me a deep but short kiss.

"I'm sorry we don't have time for something more pleasurable," he purred out, "but we need to meet with Hauk before the sun goes down and create a plan. We have a very limited amount of hours that we can look for Godric and there are many warehouses in the area we need to check. Do you want to call him or should I?"

"I will," I replied as I got dressed in what I thought would be appropriate clothes for the night. Black jeans, t-shirt, and tennis shoes.

"Have him bring Quinn with him," he said as he pulled on his pants.

"Are you sure?" I asked. I didn't want to face Quinn ever, let alone so soon.

"Don't fret over the tiger, Lover. Are you going to want to help in the search?"

"Of course," I responded immediately.

"Then he'll need to come with us."

"Can you come to our room and bring Quinn with you?" I asked Hauk.

"We'll be there in a minute," he responded with amusement in his tone.

"I want you to know now that when we find Godric, you will stay where I tell you with Quinn. I need you to promise me this. It is likely we are going into a dangerous situation and if I'm worried about you and keeping you safe..."

"I know," I interrupted. "I promise to do whatever you say."

He pulled me into a tight hug. "Thank you. It eases my mind somewhat. I wish I didn't need your help and could keep you somewhere far away and safe."

"I know you do," I said, hugging him back.

**KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK**

Moving quickly to the door, Eric let Hauk and Quinn inside. We all sat down in the same places as last night, except this time I wasn't on Eric's lap but beside him.

I curled up against him at the hate-filled look and thoughts Quinn was sending my way.

"If you do not quit sending those looks to my Bonded I will gouge out your eyeballs," Eric snarled.

"You have no idea who the person is you've married," Quinn rebuked.

"Don't I? You think I don't know what she did or said today?"

Eric turned toward me, taking my hands into both of his. "Do you trust me?" He asked, his eyes and our bond full of trust and love.

"You know I do."

"I know. Thank you," he replied, bringing my hand up and kissing it before he brought our hands down to his lap.

He turned once again, this time toward Hauk. They had a silent conversation, or more like a one-sided silent conversation, staring at one another before Hauk gave him a nod.

"What I'm about to tell you doesn't go beyond this room. If I ever have the slightest inclination that you've told or are going to tell anyone, I'll kill you. No questions asked. Can I trust you with this secret?"

Quinn looked around the room at each of us for a long minute. I hadn't been reading him and I wasn't going to start now. I didn't want to hear his thoughts and be worrying all night about what he thought of me. Right before he responded, Hauk gave a slight nod.

"You can trust me," he told Eric.

"Good. Don't fail to heed my warning. No one will be able to save you if you betray me or mine. Sookie is a telepath, and what she did today was to get information out of a Fellowship member who thought about Godric during your lunch and discovered his location."

Quinn's purple eyes landed on me.

You can really read my mind?

I smiled, "Yes, I can really read your mind."

My last girlfriend's name was Bonnie and she was a werelynx.

"Your last girlfriend was a werelynx named Bonnie. Do you believe me or do you want to keep testing me?"

"Sophie Ann was right then," he stated.

"You are aware that my wife has amnesia," Eric reminded as Quinn nodded. "At the time, Sookie could not read anyone's mind. You do understand what could happen if Sophie Ann or any vampire found out what she could do?"

"I had been around the palace for about a month before she came to visit you. I didn't know exactly what she had planned but during the day, she had workers preparing a room for a new guest who was coming to live at the palace. She always had all the workers clear out about an hour before sunset so that the vampires who were there wouldn't know what she had happening. I knew it was something big though. I'm glad that she didn't get her hands on you," Quinn said to me. "I should have realized that you really are a telepath when certain things started not adding up. You have my word that I will never utter a word about your talent."

"Thank you," I gave him a grateful smile.

"Is that why you've stayed in Shreveport?" He asked Hauk.

A smirk spread across Hauk's face before he gave a deep nod.

"Now that that's out of the way, we need to discuss our plan to find Godric. Sookie said you saw the warehouse from her..."

"Hold up! How'd you see it from her?" Quinn exclaimed before he jumped up and started pacing. "Can you... "

"Yes," Hauk said with the smirk still on his face before he turned to Eric and got serious. "I believe he's in one of the warehouses that are located on the Northwest side of town, but I have no idea which one since they all look so much alike."

"I think when we get there we'll need to split up. You should both be able to find his brain signature." Hauk and I both nodded. "I'll need to inform the King once we are on our way. I don't want to waste any time. Sookie is to remain outside any building that I go into, no matter what. Are we clear?"

"Yes," Quinn and I said in unison.

"Good, then if you need to get anything to prepare for tonight, go now. We'll meet downstairs in five minutes."

OoOoO

We had been driving for almost forty minutes before we reached the area where warehouse after warehouse continued on for miles. It was decided that we would start in the middle with Eric, Quinn, and I going to the right and Hauk going to the left. Hauk was confident that I would be able to reach him telepathically if we found Godric. Both Eric and Hauk carried backpacks filled with blood for him.

I kept my shields completely down in order to not miss a thing. After the first hour, I was becoming tired from all the quick walking we did and casting out for any feelers. After asking how long it might take us to walk through all the warehouses because I was getting tired, I was promptly put on Eric's back, and for the next hour and a half we kept looking before I finally caught a brainwave that wasn't Quinn's.

"I found something," I said against Eric's ear. "They're about another mile up ahead I think."

"Can you tell how many yet?" Eric asked as he sped up.

"Six," I replied, clutching tighter in the hopes that we had found Godric.

As we approached, I searched for Godric and tried to place where each brain signature was located. I easily found the ancient vampire who was my husband's friend.

"He's in the back far right-hand corner of the building. There are two guards outside his door, two at the front entrance, and one at the back entrance on the other side of the building opposite him."

Eric silently sat me down on my feet when we were on the other side of the road from where Godric was located.

"Let Hauk know we have found him. I may need help subduing him depending on how injured he is. Hopefully I have enough blood with me so that he'll be in control from his hunger and injuries."

Grasping my face between his large hands, he caressed both my cheeks with his thumbs. "Stay here, no matter what."

"I know," I said, nodding. I knew it was dangerous and I didn't want him to worry. "I promise."

Eric smiled and brushed his lips against mine. "I love you," he said, closing his eyes as he rested his forehead on mine.

"I love you, too. Be careful."

"Always," he replied, grabbing up the backpack and zipping off.

I sat down on the curb, staring off into the night. I couldn't see anything, and since this whole area was abandoned there weren't even streetlights on.

Not wanting to see Eric more than likely kill all of the humans in the building, I stayed out of his head, but I followed his void so that I knew where he was as Quinn stood beside me keeping watch.

"Can you see the building?" I asked as my legs bounced in nervousness.

"Yeah, I can see it. Are they on their way back?"

I shook my head.

"Are you worried about him?" He asked, looking down at me with furrowed brows.

"Why wouldn't I be worried about him?"

Quinn looked at me as if my head was missing. "He's a very old vampire. He can take care of himself. Hell, they say he was a Viking. "

"Someone was able to abduct a vampire who is over two-thousand-years old. If they can get him, it's possible to apprehend Eric. I don't want anything bad to happen to him! I'll stop worrying when he's standing in front of me."

"He at least has a heads up that they have some way of taking vampires down."

"Shh, he's reached Godric!"

Quinn tried to quietly chuckle next to me. "They can't hear us."

"I know that but I'm keeping track of where he's at and I want to concentrate."

We sat quietly for a couple more minutes before I felt Eric and Godric start to move. I stood up in anticipation of seeing them walking side by side out of the darkness. Instead I felt a deep burning pain bore into my shoulder, right before another hit me just below my heart.

I crumpled into the street, grasping my nonexistent wounds as I cried. Almost as soon as it began, it was gone. I took a deep breath as I scrambled to get up and make my way toward Eric. Hot, thick, strong arms grabbed me by the waist and held me against a body that was all wrong. I kicked, clawed, and screamed to be let go.

"Sookie, you promised to stay here. You..."

"He's hurt badly. He's shut down the bond. We need to save him!"

"No," he said roughly in my ear. "How would he feel if you went in there and got hurt?"

"We need to help!" I pleaded. I could faintly make out some type of shrill noise that kept going off, over and over. I continued to scream and fight as I felt my body being shifted around.

"I don't know what happened. Sookie fell to the ground as if she was in pain but now she's fighting me to let her go. She wants to go in and save him! Sookie," I heard the last part being repeated in my ear. "It's Pam and she wants to know what happened."

"I don't know. He's blocking me completely. Pam, you have to come! I don't know what to do," I sobbed out. "He's hurt. Please help." I said as I broke down sobbing.

"Shit, I gotta go," Quinn let out as a sigh. "There's someone carrying Northman out. This can't be good," he said in utter disbelief. "I'll let them know you're on your way."

"No!" I screamed while fighting even harder against Quinn. "Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!"

"Give her to me," I heard from my left. I tried to push away as Quinn tried to hand me off to Hauk without hurting me until I heard his calming voice in my head.

"Stop. I can't have you running over to him quite yet. We don't know if Godric's had enough blood to withstand wanting to feed from you. We don't know how hurt he was. Let me assess the situation and then you can see your husband. Can you do that for me?" Hauk asked as he placed me down on the ground.

"What the hell are you thinking? I've been restraining her for the last five minutes," Quinn growled.

"She's fine now. She knows she has to wait. Quickly, go get the car and meet us back here."

"Fine. If anything happens to her it's your fault."

"Look right there, Sookie," he said as he pointed off to the right. "You'll see him in just a minute. Godric's got him."

"I don't want anyone to have him," I cried. "I want him to be walking to me on his own."

"I know you do. Don't be alarmed when you see him. He's going to be fine. I promise you."

Out of the darkness walked a man who looked too short to be carrying anyone of Eric's height. If he hadn't been a vampire, he would have crumbled with the amount of weight that was atop his shoulders.

I started to take a step until I felt Hauk's hand on my shoulder. "Just a moment longer," he assured me.

I nodded as I wiped the tears from my eyes so that I could get a better look, but before they got close enough for me to see, Quinn pulled up with the car. He quickly jumped out and opened the back door.

Godric swooped into my car and laid Eric against the door on the other side before gracefully exiting.

"Get in," he commanded.

I stumbled into the car and made my way over to Eric. Gasping at my husband before me, I lightly trailed my hands across his face and started to sob once more.

"Eric, please wake up," I pleaded with him as I took in the damage that had been done to him.

He had multiple bullet wounds to his chest and his face had been slightly burned.

"Don't do this to me," I pleaded as sobs tore through my chest. "Wake up."

"It's best if he stays as he is for right now until we get some blood into him. You don't want him to be feeling the pain he'd be in, do you?" A gentle voice said to me.

Until that moment, I hadn't noticed that there was anyone else in the car with us. Godric was driving, while Hauk sat in the passenger seat, and Quinn sat beside me looking worried.

Sitting forward, I thrust my arm in front of Hauk's face. "Bite," I commanded, not quite as forcefully as I would have liked with a sniff, followed by a hiccup.

Hauk pushed my arm and me back into the backseat. "You know I can't do that. It's a blood offense. We're headed to Godric's and we'll get a donor for him. It's too dangerous for him to feed from you with the amount of injuries he's sustained."

"Unfortunately Eric won't feed from anyone unless it's his wife," Godric stated.

"No one has to tell him," Hauk said exasperatedly. "Surely to save his life you'd let him, wouldn't you, Sookie?"

"Of course I would. I tried before when he got hurt." I tightened my hold on him as I lightly laid my head against his uninjured shoulder.

"We cannot trick him. He would feel as if he's betrayed his vow to his wife, his Bonded. He lives by his word," Godric said, glancing back at us.

We were all quiet the rest of the way to Godric's house. The only sounds were my sniffs and whispered words to Eric telling him how much I loved him.

When we reached the house, everything happened almost too fast for me to comprehend.

Godric once again lifted Eric up as if he weighed little more than a feather before he quickly rushed him into the house. I tried to follow but he was too fast for my eyes to make out where he'd taken Eric. I was almost on the verge of a breakdown when Hauk guided me through the house and into a bedroom where Eric was laying.

I crawled onto the bed and sat next to Eric brushing his hair out of his face. I was becoming highly anxious when Godric walked into the room with four bottles of True Blood in his hands.

Opening Eric's mouth, I poured bottle after bottle into his mouth nd down his throat. with no success of him waking up.

"Why isn't he healing or waking up?" I asked as I looked at Godric and Hauk who were stationed on the other side of the room talking quietly.

"It will take a little longer for the True Blood to start working. It's doesn't work as well as human blood," Godric replied as he walked over the foot of the bed.

"Where's the kitchen?" I asked as I stood and walked to the door.

Everyone in the room had an odd look on their faces when I turned around waiting for an answer.

"When you get to the top of the stairs take a left and follow along the hallway, it will be on your right," Godric finally replied. "Is there something I can get you?" he asked perplexed.

"No, thank you. I'll be right back," I said as I quickly left the room and made my way up the stairs.

For a brief moment when I walked into the kitchen, I was in awe of how beautiful it was before I quickly snapped myself out of that type of thinking. I could admire his house when Eric was awake and better, not when he was laying downstairs unconscious. I hurriedly looked through the drawers until I found what I was looking for and made my way back downstairs.

I knew that if I told them what I was about to do they'd stop me but Eric was my husband and I was going to take care of him, no matter what.

Moving quickly, I made my way over to the bed and climbed up until I was beside Eric once more. I swiftly took the knife I had found upstairs and cut into my wrist until blood started to flow out of my wound. Growls erupted from behind me but I wouldn't let that stop me from helping my Bonded.

I placed my wrist to his lips and let my blood flow into his mouth. It only took a minute before he started to suck on my wound. After another few moments, his hands reached up and held my arm in place. Hauk and Godric rushed to the side of the bed in case they needed to pry my arm from Eric's grip, but I wasn't worried. I knew that he would never hurt me and would stop before he took too much.

My free hand caressed his face and ran through his hair as I tried to soothe him as best as I could. I couldn't tell how much pain he was in since he had cut off our bond after the first initial hits at the warehouse, and he was still blocking me from his mind. All I knew was that he was still in control somewhat if he could continue to block himself.

Eric's grip on my arm loosened and I felt his tongue glide along my cut. It started to tingle and I knew that Eric had cut his tongue to heal my wound. I was expecting his eyes to open but instead his arms fell to the bed.

Tears filled my eyes as my hopes sunk. Why wasn't he waking up?

"Sookie," Hauk said quietly from beside me. "The sun rose just a few moments ago. He won't be waking up until sunrise tomorrow night, but he's healing now." He nodded his head toward Eric and his eyes examined him. "I can't believe you cut yourself. What if he tried to drain you?"

"I knew he wouldn't. He'd never hurt me." I looked around the room and noticed Quinn sitting in a chair, but Godric was gone. "Where's Godric?"

"He left when he heard Pamela pull up and they have both gone to rest for the day. Pamela is still too young to resist the pull of the sun and Godric was still in need of rest to recover from his injuries. You, yourself, need to try and get some rest. You've had an exhausting night. I'll take Quinn and show him to where he'll be staying. Will you be okay?" he asked worriedly.

"He's going to be okay, right?" I asked as I continued to run my fingers through Eric's hair. Almost all of the burns had disappeared from his face but I knew that they were least of his injuries.

Hauk nodded before he rose from the bed. "I promise he'll be fine, but you need to get some rest. He won't be happy to know that you made yourself sick from crying and no rest."

"How can I rest until I know he's going to be okay?"

"Can you at least try for him?" he asked with another nod.

"I'll try."

"That's all I ask. If you need anything, call for me and I'll hear you," he said with a small smile.

"Me too," Quinn said as he stood from the chair he'd been sitting in. "You've got my number."

"Thanks, guys," I said as I watched them walk out the door and close it.

I laid down beside Eric holding his hand, still crying, and hoping he'd be okay. I wouldn't truly know until he rose tomorrow night. After laying there for what felt like the entire day, I finally fell into a light, distressful sleep.

* * *

Thank you for reading my story. Please review and let me know what you think. :)

Special thanks to my wonderful team! Virala, MsBuffy, and Meridian.


	4. Chapter 4 - The Unexpected

I awakened still snuggled up to Eric's side, but I could tell that we weren't alone. Whoever was in the room was asleep. Turning my head to look over my shoulder, I saw Quinn slumped over in a chair, asleep.

What the hell was he doing in here? If Eric woke up for the night and found Quinn in here, he might just end his life.

_"Hauk," I called out telepathically. _

_"Sookie, are you okay?" He asked, responding immediately. _

_"I'm fine. I was just wondering why I woke up to Quinn in my room."_

_"I guess he doesn't like his job and wants to die," he chuckled. "I don't know why. Haven't seen him all day. Why don't you ask him?"_

_"He's asleep in the corner."_

_"Wake his ass up before your husband 'wakes' for the night."_

_"What time is it?" I asked. I hadn't brought my phone or anything else down with me last night and I didn't see a clock. Vampires seemed to never have clocks around. I guess I wouldn't either if I had an internal clock telling me the time of day or night._

_"About twenty minutes until sunset," Hauk replied._

_"Eric should be up already," I said as I started to panic. "He's normally up around an hour before sunset."_

_"That may be the case _normally_, but he was injured last night and needed to heal. Don't start worrying yet."_

_"Too late." _

_"Trust me. He'll be fine until he finds a tiger in his resting place."_

_"Should I try to wake him? Quinn, I mean," I asked._

_"Shit, I don't know. I want to say yes, but what if you startle him and he attacks you or shifts?. Don't do anything unless he wakes up. If he does wake up, tell him to get the hell out of there!"_

_"What if you came in here?" I asked, thinking that it might be better if Hauk came in and woke him up or got him out of the room somehow. _

_"No, vampires don't want anyone in their resting place, let alone two people. I don't even know where you live. Do you think Eric wants me in the room while he's asleep?"_

_"No, I guess not," I replied. _

_"If you need anything, call for me. Otherwise I'm staying out of there until he wakes up."_

_"Thanks, Hauk."_

_"No problem. Now stop worrying. I'd say go get something to eat, but..."_

_"Since Quinn's in here. Yeah, I know, I won't leave him alone with Eric while he sleeps. I'm not leaving until Eric wakes up."_

_"I know you're not," he sighed and then faded away. _

I laid down as lightly as I could on Eric's chest and wrapped my arm around him as I closed my eyes and waited for Eric to wake up.

I must have fallen asleep because when I woke up, I heard voices whispering furiously. I knew it wasn't Eric because he was still underneath me. There was no noise coming from his chest and he still hadn't moved.

Sitting up carefully so that I wouldn't disturb Eric, I saw Pam only inches away from Quinn. The sight before me was comical. Quinn was around a foot taller and broader than Pam with his massive body, but it was as if she was looming over him as she threatened his life.

"Pam," I called out quietly.

Quinn and Pam both stopped and turned their heads toward me with wide eyes. Seeing these two almost made me giggle until I saw the worried look on Pam's face.

Pam walked over to the bed, sat down beside me, and pulled me into a hug. We were friends, good friends at that, but I never remembered Pam hugging me.

"What time is it?" I asked from her shoulder.

"Thirty minutes after sun down," she replied as she pulled away and looked over at Eric.

"Shouldn't he be awake by now?" I asked. My eyes raked over his bloody shirt as I counted four bullets holes.

"Give him time," Pam said as she rose from the bed and placed a hand on my shoulder. "He needs time to heal. When he wakes he'll be fine. Now," she said while she turned toward Quinn, "why are you in my Master's resting place?"

"I came to protect Sookie. I wanted to make sure that your _Master_ didn't attack her when he rose for the night. My job's to protect her," he uttered defiantly.

"My Master would never hurt Sookie. _Never_. If he did attack her, do you really think you could have stopped him? You're no match for him," she sneered.

"I sure as hell would have tried and I'm stronger than you'd like to recognize," he spat back.

I could see that this could go on all night. Luckily, my stomach let out a loud rumble causing both of them to look at me.

"You need to eat," Pam said blandly, looking at me once again.

"I'll eat after Eric wakes up. I want to be here when he wakes up," I said, moving to be closer by his side.

"Sookie, he's not going to like the fact that you starved yourself to sit by his side while he's dead to the world."

"You know I don't like you saying that!" I looked over my shoulder at her with a glare. "It doesn't matter what you say, I'm not leaving," I said, turning back to Eric.

"What if I bring some food to you?" Quinn said from across the room. "I can smell that Charlie or someone is cooking upstairs and I know I could sure eat something. I'll make you a plate and bring it down. Sound like a plan?"

"Thank you, Quinn. I'd really appreciate it."

"Not a problem. I'll be back in a few minutes," he replied.

"I'm going to go see if Godric's off the phone with Stan Davis and if he knows anything that will help us figure out who helped the humans capture him. Call if you need anything," Pam said, leaving me alone with my husband.

Looking down, he looked as he always did when he was sleeping. He looked so peaceful except for the blood and his torn clothes.

I laid back down with my head on Eric's chest as tears stung my eyes. Deep down, I knew that Eric was going to be okay, but the fact that he hadn't woken up yet let me know just how injured he'd become last night. Crawling up higher, I laid my head in the crook of his neck as my tears spilled over. I'd only been silently crying for no more than two minutes when long, strong arms wrapped around me, and I was flooded with love, calm, and reassurance.

"Min älskade, don't cry. You know how I hate your tears," he said softly into my hair as he hugged me tighter to him.

"Eric," I breathed out with relief as I pulled out of his embrace to look at him. I wanted to see his beautiful blue eyes and the life in them.

With a smile so broad it felt like my face might burst, my heart felt like it was about ready to leap out of my chest with how happy I was to hear his words, to feel his arms around me, and having the bond back. I sat on top of Eric and cradled his face in my hands. Eric had a smile that lit up his face as he looked up at me.

"I'm not hurting you, am I?" I asked, realizing that if he wasn't fully healed, I might be causing him pain.

"No, dear one, you're not hurting me." His smile faded from his face. "You've been upset for a quite some time. Tell me," he commanded softly as he pulled me down to lay on top of him.

"I've only been crying for a couple of minutes," I mumbled into his chest.

"You cried before then. Your eyes are bloodshot and swollen, and your face is tear stained," he said. His chest rumbled underneath my ear as one hand ran through my hair and the other rubbed my back, soothing my frayed nerves.

"Last night," I replied as tears sprang back up. I closed my eyes so that no tears would escape. My arms tightened around him, threatening to never let him go. "I was so worried about you. You were unconscious and you looked so..." I couldn't continue without becoming upset and sobbing.

"It's okay. I understand. No more crying. I'm fine now," he replied before he started to hum and continued to run his hand through my hair.

Laying on his chest, listening to the deep sound coming from his chest helped calm and relax me.

We stayed like that until Quinn walked into the room with a plateful of food. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw that Eric was awake and growling at him.

"I didn't know you were awake. Sorry, Sheriff. I brought Sookie something to eat since she didn't want to leave your side until you woke up. Should I tell everyone that you're awake?" He said as he placed a plate with fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and corn bread down on the nightstand.

Eric's fangs had snicked down and his grip on me had become tighter, but his growling had stopped.

"Let's let Sookie eat before we meet with everyone. " He sat up with me and then placed me down beside him on the bed before he reached over and handed me my plate of food.

"You need to eat," he said to me in a tone where I knew there'd be no discussion.

"Since my lovely wife is eating for the first time today, maybe you can tell me why you've been in my resting place today and why Pam is here," Eric said with narrowed eyes.

I could see Quinn visibly gulp as he took in Eric's expression. He stood at the end of the bed and cleared his throat.

"Pam called Sookie's phone after she felt pain coming from you, and then your Maker/Child bond fell silent. Sookie was in no state to be answering the phone, if she even heard it," he said, giving me a questionable look.

Eric looked over at me with concern but didn't say anything.

"You should have told me how strong she is. It was all I could do to keep her back without harming her."

"She does have the blood of a vampire who is over a thousand years old running through her."

I looked down at my plate and continued to eat although I could feel both of their eyes on me.

"I'm not apologizing. You were hurt," I finally replied, looking him dead in the eyes. "It better not ever happen again."

"I wish I could promise you that, but forever is a long time to promise not to get hurt, Lover."

After giving my temple a kiss, he looked at Quinn waiting for him to continue his story.

"I answered her phone because it kept going off and I thought it might be you, but it was Pam. She wanted to know what had happened. I finally got Sookie to talk to her. How Pam knew what she was saying is beyond me."

"Were you in pain?" He asked. I could feel his regret and loathing at the thought of causing me pain.

"No, you were quick to turn it all off," I promised him, shaking my head.

"She wasn't in pain. She was fighting me, screaming, and crying. She informed Pam that you were hurt, she didn't know what was going on, and wanted her to come and help. That was when I saw Godric carrying you. I informed Pam I'd let someone know she was coming and she showed up just before dawn."

I had finished inhaling my breakfast/lunch and had just put my plate back on the nightstand when Eric picked me up and placed me in his lap. I snuggled into his chest and our bond as he wrapped his arms around me and nuzzled my neck.

"I'm so sorry for putting you through that, dear one. I hate that you felt even an ounce of pain," he said quietly at my ear.

"I know and it's okay," I said, placing a kiss on his chest. "It would have been so much worse if I wasn't there though. I can't imagine what I would have done if you had gone by yourself and..."

Eric enveloped me even more into his embrace, placing soft kisses along my neck.

"Would you like to be alone?" Quinn asked.

"Actually yes we would, but only after you explain to me why you've been in my resting place," Eric said, lifting his head from my neck.

"Well," Quinn started before he had to clear his throat. "My job is to protect her and there was a... possibility that when you rose for the night," he stopped talking for a moment when he saw my bad look.

Eric chuckled and rocked me back and forth. "Give him a break. He doesn't know all of the things you don't like said about vampires. He's using common terminology."

"You're not dead," I stated and went back to snuggling against his chest.

"Many would disagree with you, Lover," he said with a small smile. His smile faded and eyes narrowed as he turned back toward Quinn. "There's nothing that would ever make me harm my wife, the woman who I've chosen to bond and pledge to," he growled out, causing Quinn to take a step back.

"I understand that you don't _want_ to hurt her; I just wanted to be here in case…"

"You would not have been able to stop me even if I did attack her," he snarled. His lips had curled up showing even more fang.

"I was only trying to do my job. If I was going to try to kill you, I wouldn't do it while you're dead for the day. After seeing how much she cares about you last night, I would only kill you if I had no other choice."

Feeling Eric's whole body tense, I decided that Quinn had better get out of here before Eric killed him for saying the wrong thing. It was sweet of Quinn to be worried about me, but he should have known that coming in here was a bad idea.

"Why don't you tell the others that we'll be up after Eric gets a shower and changed?" I said to Quinn, trying to give him an out from this situation.

"Sure. Charlie and I are going to go back to the hotel. Call us if you need anything," Quinn said, keeping his eye on Eric. It seemed as if he had just realized his predicament.

"Check out of the hotel and get everyone's luggage. We'll all be here for the remainder of our stay. I'll be showing Sookie the security system and we won't have to worry about intruders coming into our room."

"Whatever you say, boss," Quinn mumbled angrily as he walked out of the room.

"Would you like to join me in the shower?" Eric asked as he stood with me and carried me into the bathroom.

"Do I have a choice?" I giggled as I started to strip out of my clothes.

Promptly turning toward me, Eric cupped my face in his large calloused hands.

"You always have a choice. _Always_," he said, becoming serious.

"I know I do," I said, looking up into eyes that were begging me to see the truth. "I do."

Reaching up on tippy toes, I kissed him slowly, pushing my love and trust for him through the bond.

"I love you, snugglesome hugglesome," I said wanting to lighten the serious mood he was in and the mood we would all likely be in as we discussed what happened with Godric and Eric.

A smile lit up his face as he chuckled and pulled me into the shower.

"As I love you," he proclaimed before claiming my lips in a deep kiss. Pulling back when I needed to breath, he grabbed some body wash and started to wash me until I caught his wrists in my hands and smiled up at him.

"I want to wash you and take care of you," I said quietly as the memories of last night flickered through my mind.

He was still mostly dry with blood and dirt caked in places. I pushed him under the spray and then lathered my hands with soap. My hands lightly washed away the blood from his now nonexistent wounds.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked as I moved to washing his rock hard stomach.

"You know you can ask me anything," he lifted my chin with his index finger until I was looking up at him. "You never have to ask even if you're afraid it may hurt me."

"I know," I said lightly, shaking my head. "I wasn't thinking. Sorry. I wanted to know why you've been showing your affection for me in front of Quinn."

"It doesn't make you uncomfortable, does it?" He asked, stopping my hands with his own.

"No, but you've always told me that you'd have to act differently in front of others and I thought it would include him," I explained.

Leaning down Eric planted a sweet, tender kiss to my lips before he let go of my hands and straightened to his full height. I continued to wash away the dirt and grime as I waited for him to speak.

Grabbing the body wash, Eric once again started to clean my shoulders and back.

"I see no reason to hide how I feel about you in front of the Tiger. If he is to be your bodyguard then he will be around frequently, and we shouldn't have to hide how we feel or act toward one another," he explained as his hand moved down in between my legs.

"Me neither," I moaned out as he dipped one finger inside of me.

"The time for talking is over" he said as he hiked my leg around his hip and pushed me against the cold shower wall.

I let out a small shriek and my back arched away from the cold wall before Eric picked me up by my thighs and impaled me with his thick, hard erection.

I locked my arms around his neck and threw my head back at the sensation of being completely filled by him. Eric kept his thrusts long and slow as he'd pull out almost to the tip before slowly filling me again with each delicious inch of his magnificent cock.

OoOoO

"Pam is waiting very impatiently upstairs, so we should hurry before she decides to temporarily forget that you don't appreciate her seeing you naked," he said as he pulled on a t-shirt and watched me try to frantically get dressed.

"You'll tell me if she's coming, right?" I asked worriedly. Someone had put a change of clothes out both Eric and I. Unfortunately for me they were only a pair of boxers and t-shirt, so I had to wear yesterday's bra and underwear.

"I won't let her in if she tries," he replied as he watched me get dressed.

I quickly threw on the clothes that were left out and pulled my hair in a ponytail until our luggage arrived.

I walked over to Eric and he spread his legs for me to stand in between them. He hugged me to him as he lay his head on my chest. I wrapped my arms around him as best as I could and we stayed that way for a few moments in silence as we enjoyed the closeness of each other and the feelings of our bond.

Eric was the first to disengage and I gave him a fake pout as I stepped away.

"The faster we get upstairs and everyone's up to date then the quicker we can enjoy ourselves later," he said as he rose from the bed and held out his hand for me.

"I'll hold you to it," I responded, taking his hand and lacing our fingers together. We quickly made our way upstairs and to the living room where Godric, Pam, and Hauk were waiting.

The front door swung open with Charlie carrying a couple of suitcases and Quinn loaded down with the rest.

"You can set everything down there," Godric motioned to the wall, "and join us. We're just about ready to begin."

"I see you finally decided to grace the rest of us with your presence," Pam said irritability when she caught sight of us.

"I'm sorry, Pam. I didn't mean to monopolize his time. You should have come down to see Eric," I replied. I hadn't thought about how Pam would feel. Of course, she would have wanted to see Eric once he was up for the night. My eyes filled with tears as I thought about how selfish I had been.

Eric pulled me down onto his lap in one of the chairs that wasn't already occupied.

"No more tears, dear one. You have nothing to feel badly about. Pam knew that I was fine and was only trying to embarrass you since it took us so long to make it upstairs. She's the one who should feel badly for upsetting you," he explained as he wiped away a tear that had escaped.

"I had no idea she'd react this way," Pam said with shock.

"Last night was difficult and Sookie's still a little emotional, but we need to talk about what happened last night and when Godric was taken," Eric said, pulling me back to his chest.

"Yes, what happened? How did you... what happened to you?" Pam asked.

"I had killed three of the five humans who were guarding Godric with no problem. I released Godric and gave him the blood I had brought for him to drink. Once he had finished off the blood we set out to kill the remaining two at the front of the building. There must have been an alarm that I triggered as I made my way to where Godric was being held.

"I was in the lead when they started shooting at us, and I pushed Godric into the room we had just passed. I knew he wasn't fully recovered and thought I'd have no problem taking out two humans. They had semi-automatic rifles that I thought were shooting regular bullets. That was until I got shot by one. These were no ordinary weapons. They were wooden bullets encased with silver and silver bullets that somehow had UV light in them. I killed the first human after I had gotten shot, and then the second guard pulled out some sort of UV flashlight and pointed it in my face, making it so I couldn't see and was getting burned as he shot at me.

"Godric came out and killed him before I received a wooden bullet to the chest. The next thing I knew, I was 'waking up' tonight, we're at Godric's, and Pam's here."

After a moment of silence Eric asked, "Who'd you leave in charge of Fangtasia and Area Five on such short notice?"

Pam and the rest of us except Godric sat dumbfounded for a few moments as we let the information we had just heard sink in. How had they come up with these weapons and who had helped them? Could the Fellowship alone have pulled this off?

"Thalia's in charge and everyone knows not to fuck with her," Pam said almost smugly.

"Did you tell her not to kill anyone? I can't have her killing anyone who makes her angry," Eric responded.

"Of course I did."

"Good. I'll need to inform Sophie Ann that I've left Thalia in charge until we are back in the Area."

"Just how long is that going to be?" Pam asked, looking at her nails.

"Until we catch whoever abducted Godric."

"How did they manage to capture you, Godric?" Hauk asked.

Godric looked at each one of us and then let out a deep sigh, "I had just risen for the night and was lax in checking my surroundings. The alarm was fine, it hadn't been triggered in any way," he said, shaking his head. "When I opened the door to come upstairs they were waiting for me. If I didn't change the downstairs code every few days, it's possible they could have gotten down there as well. You should all know that my security has already been upgraded and anyone who's staying will have to be added to the system. There are also different levels. If you're not a vampire, it will not let you downstairs without the authorization of a vampire also putting in his or her code directly after yours."

I understood why he had set up this level of security, but I didn't like what it meant for me.

"Don't worry, Sookie," Godric said kindly to me. "You have honorary vampire status here. We all know you'd never harm us unless we intended harm on your Bonded."

"Thank you for the honor, Godric. I understand the level of security, but I was worried I wouldn't get to sleep with Eric."

Godric gave me a soft smile and a nod.

"I think you're the only human who _wants _to sleep in the bed with of a vampire," Charlie snorted. "No offense," he said, cringing as he looked around the room full of mostly vampires.

"Most vampires would never let a human into their actual bed, let alone allow them to stay in their resting place," Pam said with a disgusted look on her face.

Pam did not think highly of most humans and couldn't imagine trusting one enough to let into her bed, she had told me. Unless it was me and she knew, Eric nor I would ever go for it.

"What else can you tell us about the night you were abducted?" Eric asked, wanting to get us back on track.

"They had guns, silver nets, and some sort of portable UV lamps. They turned on the lamps as I opened the door and then threw the nets on me. I was incapacitated after that and then I was hauled off into a car that was parked in the garage," Godric explained.

"If they got into the garage and the house they had to have a way in, your security codes, something," Eric replied trying to reason out how they had gotten in. "When we arrived and checked the house, I got the scent of four humans and one vampire that smelled familiar to me, but I haven't been able to place who it was. Did you by any chance get a look at who it was?"

Godric was quiet as he stared out the window for a minute. When he looked back at Eric, I could see the betrayal, anger, and sorrow on his face. Whoever it was, it was someone close to him. Too bad I couldn't remember anything about the ancient vampire to even give me a hint at who it could possibly be.

"You know who it was," Eric stated as his body tensed up. I could feel that he wanted to find whoever it was and torture them for what they'd done to Godric. All our eyes were on the young looking, but ancient vampire.

"Who was it?" Eric asked when it didn't seem like Godric was going to let us in on who had betrayed him.

"Nora."

Thank you for reading! Let me know what you think. :)

Special thanks to Virala, MsBuffy, and Meridian for being apart of my team and making my story great! xo


	5. Chapter 5 - Resignation

"It was Nora," Godric lightly growled. "Valken's child."

Who the hell are Nora and Valken?

"She could never get over her jealousy of how much her Maker loves you," Eric said pulling me closer to him.

"So she somehow decided that if she got rid of you," I said looking at Godric, "her Maker would love her more?"

"Nora's never thought clearly where her Maker's involved," Godric replied solemnly.

"Obviously, if she thinks having the Fellowship kidnap him was going to help her get into his good graces." I shook my head at the stupidity of it all. "What was her plan? Do you think it was her who helped them out with the weapons?" I asked.

"No," Godric said, shaking his head sadly. "Nora didn't have the resources to pull together new weapon technology."

"Who does?" Pam asked.

"I have no idea, but we have to find out and stop them," Godric replied.

"Do you know where to find Nora?" Eric asked.

"Unfortunately, I don't. I wasn't even aware that she was in Texas."

"Should we call for Valken to help find her?" Eric asked hesitantly.

"Let's wait for now. It will pain him greatly to find out what Nora has done. I'm assuming it was him who called for you to find me?" Eric gave a deep nod but said nothing. "I should call him while I have a chance before he dies for the day. Let's all take a break while I call my child to let him know I'm alright and it will give you an opportunity to show Sookie the house again, the security, and to call your Queen if you're planning on staying."

Eric gave me a tour of the house with his arm wrapped around my shoulders and securely by his side. I thought it was a little big for only one vampire to live there, but that seemed to be the vampire way. They definitely liked their luxury, but I guess I would if I had lived when there wasn't such a thing as a toilet.

"Would you like to finish getting ready now that our luggage has arrived while I call Sophie Ann?" Eric asked while he carried our luggage downstairs. "I'll show you how to lockdown our room. We will have the same security when we get home."

"I would like to put on my own clothes and wear clean underwear," I whispered as we stepped into our private living space downstairs.

"You could have gone without," he replied with a wink. He sat our luggage in the closet and then made short work of showing me how to set and deactivate the alarm.

"Your code is 082576. Don't tell anyone your code."

"I won't," I told him. "Are you going to be in trouble with the Queen?"

"Trouble? No, but she may demand that we return," he replied as he took his phone off the charger.

"What happens if she does?" I asked worriedly from the closet.

"That depends on how she reacts when I tell her we won't be returning until matters are settled here."

"I don't like it," I replied, chewing on my bottom lip.

"Neither do I, but we have nothing to worry about from her. I'm older and stronger than she is.

As I quietly got dressed, I listened to Eric's conversation with the Queen.

"This is Eric Northman for Her Majesty."

"Yes, I'll hold."

He was quiet as I slipped out of the t-shirt and boxers and into a soft sundress. I silently made my way into the bathroom to brush my hair out now that it was dry and to brush my teeth.

"Good evening, Your Majesty."

"No, no trouble. I rarely have any problems with those in my Area. I was calling to inform you that my wife, my child Pamela, and I are in Dallas with an emergency situation."

"No, we are all fine, but a friend of mine had gone missing and I came to help locate him."

"That's why I was calling. I don't know when we'll be back. Thalia was left in charge of the Area."

I stepped into the room to see Eric sitting on the bed with his eyes closed and squeezing the bridge of his nose. I quietly made my way over to his side and sat down next to him. He didn't open his eyes, but a slight smile graced his lips as he brought down his hand from his nose to lace with mine.

"We won't be back until we've caught the assailants."

Rage.

Irritation.

Eric growled as the air seemed to thicken and sizzle with dangerous tension.

Was that a threat, Your Majesty?" Eric's cold voice went dangerously low. "Because I believe that any threats made against me or mine will only end poorly in your favor."

This was not good. I tightened my grip on his hand and was shaking with anxiety and fear. The look on his face was radiating power, perception, and calm.

Dangerous and in control.

I could hear the shrill shrieks of the vampire Queen and for a moment I wondered how Eric could stand to have the phone so close to his ear with his enhanced hearing.

"You forget so quickly, Sophie Ann that 'Queen' is nothing more than a title. A title that makes it necessary to need an ancient vampire like myself to protect you, so may I suggest that you choose your next words carefully… Your Grace."

Eric listened as the Queen spoke and a small smirk grew on his face.

"If you cannot accept my leave then you force me to resign my position as your most profitable and influential Sheriff," Eric smiled and quickly continued. "I'd be more than happy to have my lawyers draw up my resignation papers as well as send you my resignation fee. My bonded and I were growing weary of Louisiana anyway."

Weary of Louisiana?

I only had a little over half a year's worth of memories, and what about our house and belongings? I wasn't so sure I wanted to leave Louisiana.

"In fact, I think I'll call Mr. Cataliades right now." Eric hung up the phone...

I, on the other hand, found a chair and slumped down into it as I closed my eyes. It wasn't but a moment later I felt Eric's cool touch on my cheek and his concern.

"Are you alright, Lover?" He asked as he scooped me up, traded places with me, and sat me on his lap.

"Can we ever go back?" I asked quietly as I snuggled into the crook of his neck.

"To Louisiana?" He asked, rubbing my back. I nodded against his neck. "We can go back although I think we should give it a little time. Sophie Ann isn't very happy with me at the moment and I don't want to put you into a situation where there's a possibility of any danger."

"What about our house? We didn't pack enough to stay here for very long."

"Do you not like it here in Dallas?" He asked, pulling me back to look me in the face.

"I don't know. We haven't been here long enough for me to like it or not. I don't like that you were shot last night and by staying here looking for this Nora, you're putting yourself into more danger," I explained.

"I know you don't, but I promise to be careful," he replied before placing a kiss on my nose.

"You promised to be careful last night. Were you not careful? Do you know how worried I was?" I said getting upset from remembering what he looked like last night and not waking up.

Eric let out a deep sigh before running a hand through his hair.

"I was careful and on my guard until I rescued Godric. I admit I let my guard down and was overly confident when we met up with the last of the humans. I had no idea they had that type of weaponry, but it is not a mistake I will make again. I am deeply sorry for making you worry. I hate that I caused you so much stress," he explained resting his forehead against mine.

"I know you do," I replied, kissing him softly on the lips.

"We were going to stay here until we caught Nora anyway. Now we don't have to worry about responsibilities there and can focus on the task at hand. You can get to know Godric all over again."

"What about Fangtasia? That's still our responsibility."

"I've already thought of that. We'll put it up for sale. That was our plan before. We would either sell it or let Pam take over once my contract with the Queen was over so that we could travel. Now we can do it that much sooner. We've talked about visiting my homeland and where we honeymooned, now we'll have no problems taking time away. Unless you don't want to?" He asked, his eyes boring into my own.

"I absolutely do. This all happened so fast and it's going to take time to get used to. What about more clothes though?"

Eric let out a small chuckle before he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. "We can buy more or if you really want your clothes from Shreveport, we can send Charlie back to pack for us and himself. Whatever you'd like. I'm sorry, I didn't think it would cause you anymore stress, but I couldn't let her threaten us. After a little time when she sees that I'm not planning on killing her and taking over the state, and she's been paid her fine for breaking the contract, we should have no problems with Sophie Ann."

"I hope not. I'm all for us traveling, but I want to be able to go home eventually."

"Good. I can't wait to show you the world, my beautiful wife," he said before dipping down and kissing me breathless.

"We should go upstairs and inform everyone on the new developments," Eric spoke as he kissed down my neck.

"We should," I replied as I pulled his shirt over his head, "but first I need a little more time with my husband."

I stood and started to slowly take off my clothes as I made my way over to the bed.

"Anything you want, älskling," he purred as he rose from the chair and stalked toward me.

* * *

Sorry it's been awhile. My muse has been running with Black Friday but I thought you would all like a chapter of Lovers Always. As always I want to thank my wonderful team: Virala, MsBuffy, and Meridian. You ladies rock!

Let me know what you think! :)

If you want to see pictures of Godric's house please go to: gyllene76 {dot} com


	6. Chapter 6 - Moving Forward

"Well, if it isn't the newlyweds," Pam joked as Eric and I made our way into Godric's office.

"Pam, you know that we've been married for almost five years now. Why would you say we're newlyweds?"

"Because my dear friend, you two are fucking just like a newly married couple."

"I don't understand," I said looking at Eric.

"Did we have sex less often before the accident?"

"No, Lover, we didn't, but we didn't have many opportunities from the time we went to work until we came home. Not many... pit stops during our nights," he replied with a wink.

"I like our pit stops," I said, leaning against Eric's side.

"Me too, Lover, me too."

"Soooo, I don't understand," I started.

"Oh for fuck's sake, I was trying to give you a hard time. I didn't think it would fly right over your pretty blonde head. You're no fun anymore!" Pam said, exasperated.

"I can't help it," I said with a sniff. Tears welled up and threatened to spill over.

"Pam," Eric barked after he wrapped his arms around me causing Pam to look down.

"Please forgive me, Master."

"Don't give your..."

"Mistress," Pam interrupted with a wide smile.

"Enough," Eric replied through gritted teeth. "You will desist in saying _anything_ that will upset my Bonded."

"If you're both going to be so moody, maybe you should make a permanent pit stop for the night," she laughed out.

I couldn't understand why she seemed to be trying to upset Eric. I knew how much they liked to joke around with each other, but Eric was in no mood. He let out a menacing growl as he brought us over to the couch.

Pam rolled her eyes, but apologized quietly to both of us.

"Now," he said, glaring at Pam sideways. "Maybe you'd like to hear about the conversation I had with Sophie Ann."

"Judging by your foul mood, it didn't go so well," Godric quietly said from behind his desk.

"She didn't take our leave well, and then she threatened me and mine," he snarled out the last part.

"Are we going back?" Pam asked, frustrated.

"Not anytime soon," he replied.

I was still unsure how I felt about not being able to go home right away. I wanted to get to know Godric, find who kidnapped him, and be able to travel, but not at the cost of never being able to go home. I only hoped the Queen wouldn't send anyone after us. I was definitely relieved she no longer suspected me of having telepathy.

Eric pulled me closer to his side and kissed my temple.

"What do you mean?" Pam asked, now agitated. "We've got a bar to run; I was getting ready to organize one of my shoe closets by color."

Quinn mumbled something incoherent that made Pam's fangs come down and she glared at him.

"I resigned after she wouldn't see reason. We will not be going back for a little while."

"What are we going to do about Fangtasia? It won't run itself. Hell, we'll be lucky if Sophie Ann doesn't throw one of her temper tantrums and has it burned down. Really, Eric, what were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that I wasn't going to let her threaten me, and I am tired of her childish ways. She didn't want to see reason, and I only had five more years on my contract. I'll happily pay the fee to be out from under her rule and be able to do what I want. I never would have become Sheriff if I'd known I was going to meet Sookie. I want to travel, show her the world for however long I want, not by Sophie Ann's stipulations."

"As for Fangtasia, I plan to sell it unless you want it. I'm tired of spending so much of my free time running a bar."

"You'd rather spend it in between the legs of your... wife. And I don't want to run a smelly bar. I'd much rather have my own boutique. Maybe spend a year or three shopping in Europe."

I watched as a smile spread across her face while she tapped her chin.

"Now that I think about it, this is perfect. Except now who will fund my shopping?"

"You're a big girl now. You'll make do," Eric said with a laugh.

Pam harrumphed from across the room, and then proceeded to pout.

"Fine. I'll give you the money from the sale of Fangtasia, but that's it," Eric growled. "I'm glad her ways haven't rubbed off on you," Eric said to me.

"You spoil her too much," Godric chided Eric.

"Don't tell me that if Valken lived closer to you, you wouldn't spoil him," Eric replied with a knowing look.

"Not as you do with Pamela," he said with a fond look toward her. "But maybe it was too much. Valken's been far too lenient with Nora and perhaps I've not set the best example if she thinks she could kidnap me and get away with it."

Before anyone could answer or protest Pam placed her hand on Godric's arm and spoke quietly to him. Well, I couldn't hear what she was saying, but I'm sure everyone else could. I crossed my arms over my chest and looked out the window until they were done with their semi-private powwow.

"Sookie, why are you pouting?" Eric asked with furrowed brows as he pulled my arms from my chest and my hands into one of his large, calloused hands.

"I can't hear anything," I whisper-yelled before realizing it was pointless. "Pam's over there talking all quiet like, and the only person who's in this room that can't hear her is me. I'm a boring human who can't hear anything."

Eric wrapped his arms around me, placing his lips at my ear before he spoke.

"Dear one, you are far from boring. Even if you were a plain ole' human, which you are not, you'd never be plain or boring. You are an extraordinary woman. If you want to hear better, you can take my blood on a more regular basis, but I don't know if it would help enough for you to hear Pam. Even if it did, I doubt you'd want to hear what she was saying."

He placed a kiss on my ear before pulling back to look me in the eye.

"If you really wanted to know what they're saying why didn't you just listen to their thoughts? You forget that you have a bigger advantage than all of us in that you can read our minds."

"I try not to read your minds. I don't want to invade anyone's privacy."

I felt Eric's confusion at my statement so I tried to clarify.

"When you guys are whispering to each other it feels like I'm being left out. It feels personal and it's easier to listen with my ears than my mind. And just because someone says something does not mean they are thinking it."

"I'm sorry you feel that way. You know I have nothing to hide from you. You can always listen in on me," he said with a small smile.

"Not everyone feels that way," I mumbled.

"I know. How about when we finish here we go do something, just the two of us. Whatever you want. It's been awhile since we've been on a date. Would you like that?"

"Yes!" I exclaimed, throwing my arms around his neck. I peppered his face with kisses before I brushed my lips across his. Eric's arms pulled me closer and then his hand made its way to my hair.

I heard a loud throat clearing before I pulled away with a smile.

"Sorry," I said as I looked around the room and then rested my head on Eric's shoulder.

"You have nothing to be sorry about. If anyone should be apologizing it should be me."

"What do you have to be sorry about?" I asked confused.

"For trying to plant his flag in your soil while all of us watch," Quinn quipped.

Eric turned and glared at Quinn before his face softened when he looked back at me.

"I've obviously not been a very good husband if you get that excited by the mere mention of a date. I think we should go on at least one date per week until we start to travel. Do you agree?"

"You know I do. Let's hurry up and finish this business so I can have you all to myself."

"Perfect," he said kissing me once before turning to the rest of the room.


	7. Chapter 7 - Safety First

_Previously:_

_Eric turned and glared at Quinn before his face softened when he looked back at me._

_"I've obviously not been a very good husband if you get that excited by the mere mention of a date. I think we should go on at least one date per week until we start to travel. Do you agree?"_

_"You know I do. Let's hurry up and finish this business so I can have you all to myself."_

_"Perfect," he said kissing me once before turning to the rest of the room. _

* * *

**"I need to inform Charlie that he's to go back to Shreveport and pack for our extended stay. If you need him to retrieve anything for you let him know," Eric said to Hauk and Pam. **

"I've already set up a few appointments at some boutiques," Pam replied as she studied her nails. "I don't have any appropriate Texan wear. I'll need a new wardrobe for while we're here."

Quinn scoffed from the corner.

"You do know we aren't staying here indefinitely, right?" I asked.

A mischievous smile spread across Pam's face as she eyed me. "Oh sweet Sookie, we haven't gotten to shop nearly as much as I have wanted us to since your husband likes to monopolize all of your free time. No, this time you're coming with me. You'll need a new wardrobe for our stay here and when you go abroad. Plus do you really want that human in your bedroom and closet?"

"You do know I'm human too, don't you Pam? Don't talk about stinky humans around me."

"You are well aware that you smell better than any human alive. Don't act so insulted for all of humankind."

I looked over at Eric with worry. Charlie had never been in our bedroom and I wasn't sure if Eric would allow him now. "There are a few items I want from home regardless of a new wardrobe or not. Will you be okay with Charlie going into our bedroom?" I asked quietly, afraid he'd say no.

"Why are you worried?" He asked cupping the side of my face and then running his thumb along my jaw. "Have I ever said no to you?"

"Yes," I replied instantaneously.

Chuckling lightly Eric kissed my forehead. "Have I ever said no to you when I didn't think your life was in danger?"

"Not that I know of, but I'm sure you could argue that if we let Charlie know our code then one day he could harm us."

"Sookie," he said and gave me an indulgent smile. "We can change the code or glamour him if it means that much to you to retrieve a few articles from our home. What would you like for him to retrieve for you?"

"The bracelet you got me for Valentine's Day. We were so rushed when we left that I didn't put it on or grab it; I miss it. I'm used to wearing everyday. I also want my journals, and our dagger." I whispered the last part even though everyone in the room could hear every word I said.

Eric ran his finger around my left wrist where I normally wore the bracelet he gave me before nodding his head. "Tell Charlie where to look for your items. Our dagger is in a box so he won't be touching the dagger itself. Is there anything else you want? We don't know exactly when we'll be able to return."

"I'll be fine once I have those few items. Do you want anything from home?" I asked as I reached up and traced the necklace that I had bought him.

"I have everything I need here. I'm sure Pam won't mind buying some more clothes with our credit card," he stated. Eric looked over at Pam with a raised brow.

"The more the merrier!" Pam exclaimed as she rubbed her hands together.

"Charlie," Eric called as he walked passed the room. "I need to speak with you."

I watched as Charlie looked about the room and swallowed forcefully.

"What do you need, Boss?" He asked once he stood in front of us.

"We are going to be in Dallas longer than we thought. I have resigned from my duties in Louisiana, and we need you go back to pack a few things for us and anything you need for yourself."

"So I'm not fired?" Charlie asked with relief.

"Far from it. You may have more to do here than you ever did in Shreveport," Eric said eying him. "Unless you don't want to work for us here."

"No!" Charlie exclaimed, and then calmed himself down. "No, I want to continue working for you. When do I leave?"

"Tomorrow during the day. My wife has a few possessions that she would like during our stay. Pam will be buying us new clothes so it will be a relatively short trip for getting what we need."

"Do you think it's safe for him to go alone?" I asked after Charlie came back with a pen and paper for Eric to write down his instructions. "It's well-known that Charlie is our dayman. What if the Queen has sent someone to sniff around and they find Charlie?"

"She very well could have. We'll figure something out. Smart thinking." He brought my hand to his cool lips before giving it a kiss and murmured against it. "This is one of the many reasons why I love you."

I moved to hug Eric, wrapping my arms around his neck, and nuzzled my face into the side of his neck. I mouthed 'sweet' against his him and could feel Eric's amusement as he kissed the top of my head.

"I can go back with Charlie. We shouldn't have any problems if we arrive well before sundown. I am in need of a few items as well and will be able to protect him if Sophie Ann has sent anyone," Hauk stated.

"That's a good idea," I replied before realizing that if Hauk went with Charlie then he'd know where our house was. Could I invite him into our house all the way from Dallas if Eric was agreeable? And that was a big if.

I watched as Eric sat back with his arms across his chest and quietly contemplated Hauk. I followed along with his thoughts or tried to. Sometimes when he would think something frustrating he'd start thinking in another language. What it all boiled down to was no vampire would ever trust another vampire unless he or she was their master. It made me sad to think that's how Eric had lived his life until he'd made Pam and met me, but I understood. I'd looked into enough vampire minds to know just how depraved they really could be.

Eric kept going back to my safety again and again in his head. I decided maybe it would help if he heard what I had to say.

"Hey," I said quietly as I took one of his arms that was crossed and then laced our fingers together after I turned toward him. "I've been inside his head many times and I trust him. Our house was already extremely safe and, if for some reason he turned against us, we would be safe and we can change the code. Is it possible to give them a temporary code that will expire after a few days?"

"It's possible and I know you trust him. It's very hard for me to trust anyone, especially a vampire. The only vampire who knows of the location to our home is Pam. I don't think he would turn against you or us, but..." His eyes caressed every feature of my face before he spoke again. "If anything ever happened to you... Let alone because I was negligent in your safety, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I will trust your judgement in this, but," he said and turned to Hauk. "If I even think for moment you've betrayed her or me, I will end you."

"I would expect nothing less," Hauk stated with a deep nod.

"You," I said, pointing at Hauk, "better give him no reason to think you'd betray us. You're one of my best friends and I'd miss you."

"I don't plan on it. I promise you," Hauk said and smiled at me. "I treasure our friendship, my little friend."

I felt Eric tense slightly beside me. I knew he hated any man showing even friendly endearments to me. Squeezing his hand, I sent all my love for him before I felt the warm rush of his love flow through me.

"Now that we have that all settled," Godric said quietly from across the room. "We need to figure out where Nora is and who is behind giving the Fellowship the technology and information to bring down vampires. While you are on your… date, I'll call around to my contacts and Valken to see if he knows where Nora is and when he last heard from her. We'll reconvene tomorrow night and discuss what I've found out and where we will go from there. We need to shut this operation down before the Fellowship kidnaps and kills more vampires, or worse yet, sells their weapons and lets all of our weaknesses be known."

Everyone sat quietly as they thought about what would happen if the weapons the Fellowship had, got into the hands of the public and gave them even more knowledge of their weaknesses. We couldn't fail. I didn't want any vampires dying or getting hurt, but I hated the thought of my vampires being in danger.

Not a sound was made until my stomach growled loudly. A blush heated my face as everyone's eyes shifted to me. Eric stood and held a hand out to me.

"I believe my wife is in need of dinner. We will see you tomorrow after sundown," he said and gave a nod to everyone in the room.

"Come älskling. Let's get you something to eat and decide what we shall do on our date."

* * *

I want to say thank you to everyone who is still following along with Lovers Always. I know I've been spending more time on Black Friday but after the end of True Blood and some convincing from Meridian I need to fix that awful train wreck they left us with.

Up next will be their date.

Thank you to Virala for being the awesome beta that you are and MsBuffy for working her magic. xo


	8. Chapter 8 - Kiss Me

I have a song that goes along with this chapter. To listen while you read please go to my website. Gyllene76 {dot} com

* * *

"Are you going to tell me where we're going?" I asked Eric after we'd been traveling out of the city for a few miles. I wasn't sure what type of date we were having so far away from everything.

"You said you didn't care and for me to choose. I did a good job with the restaurant, didn't I?" He asked with an arched brow.

"You know you did a good job," I replied as I swatted his arm. "It would have even been more pleasant if you would have stopped shooting bursts of lust at me while I ate."

"I couldn't help myself with the way you were moaning and sucking every last morsel off your fork. I have to say that has to have been one of the best dining experiences we've had."

Eric shot another bolt of lust at me causing me to squirm in my seat and pant a little bit.

"Would you stop? I don't understand why you keep doing that when we can do nothing about it, first at the restaurant and now in the car."

"We could have rectified the matter at the restaurant and, if you want, I can pull over to the side of the road," he replied with a knowing smirk on his face.

"There was no way we were going to rectify anything in a restaurant full of Supes. They would have heard everything."

"Very true. I was only saying we could have, not that we would. I didn't realize I was sending so much that you had become uncomfortable. That was not my intention. You were doing too good of a job turning me on with that sexy mouth of yours."

I started to retort when suddenly Eric turned and started traveling down a dark, gravel road. I tried to peer out my window and the windshield to maybe get an idea as to what we were doing, but I couldn't see anything.

It wasn't too much longer before we pulled off the gravel road and parked under a big tree. The sight before me stole my breath, it was so beautiful.

I sat staring with my mouth hanging open until I noticed Eric standing on my side of the car with the door open, a blanket over one arm, and his other extended out to me. I placed my hand in his as I exited the vehicle and let him lead us down slightly a used path.

He placed the blanket on the ground before sitting down and lightly tugging me in between his legs. I sat back and relaxed against his chest with his arms around me.

"When was the last time we went on a date?" I asked, tilting my head back to look at him.

He looked down at me from gazing up at the stars and kissed my forehead. "Only a couple of days before your accident. We used to try to go on a date once a week."

"Oh." My emotions immediately plummeted with his words.

"Hey," he said as he pulled me around to straddle his legs, placed his finger under my chin, and coaxed me to look up at him. "Why are you feeling so dejected?" His brow furrowed in concern.

"Why haven't we been on a date since my accident?" I asked, my lower lip quivering. "Do you not want to go on dates with me?"

"Oh, Lover. It's not like that at all," he said quietly, caressing my face with his thumb. "Before we worked much more than we do now and we would go on dates to be able to spend time together. Now we spend more time than ever before with each other, but I've been remiss in my duties as your husband. We should go on more dates and I'll show you how special you are to me. How does that sound?"

"We don't have to go on dates for you to show me how special I am to you. You show me every day, but I do like the idea of us going on the occasional date," I replied while I wrapped my arms around his neck. Leaning forward, I brushed my lips against his before resting my forehead against his.

"It's very beautiful here. How'd you know about this place?"

Eric turned me back around so that I could see the stunning sight before me. "We came here once when we were visiting Godric. You thought it was beautiful then, too."

We sat quietly looking out over the lake and into the night sky. Eric's emotions were bouncing from lust to happiness then love, and back to lust again, making me wonder what he was thinking. His arms were wrapped around me and his cheek was resting on top of my head.

I leaned back even further into his embrace and relaxed as I let myself into his mind. I gasped at what I first saw.

Eric was ravishing me up against the tree we were parked under. It was rough... passionate... hot... I dug my fingers into Eric's thighs as I watched it play out.

OoOoO

_One moment Eric was ravishing me against a tree and tearing my clothes off, and the next I was completely naked and straddling him as he was laying down on a blanket._

_With both hands on my hips, Eric helped me rock and grind against him. I moaned and threw my head back as Eric's large hands snaked up from my undulating hips and cupped my swaying breasts, pinching and rolling my nipples between his fingers._

_"Sookie," he moaned, thrusting his hips up as I slid down._

_We moved harder and faster, moaning and chanting each others names like a sacred prayer. My skin was flush and slick with sweat, but in Eric's eyes I looked beautiful._

_With a feral growl, Eric rolled me under him before he slammed his hips into me, watching as I came, screaming and writhing. The way he saw me in the moonlight was beyond what I could ever look like and the look on my face was one part ecstasy, one part love, devotion._

_"You are my everything, Sookie," he whispered, running his fingertips along my cheek._

_"And you are mine," I replied with a passionate kiss._

OoOoO

"You were happy," I whispered out into the night.

"We both were. We both are. Don't you agree?" He replied kissing up the side of my neck.

I nodded, but kept quiet for a few more minutes as I took in this special place.

"Do you ever still miss her?" I asked even quieter than before. It was a wonder that Eric had even heard me since I barely heard myself.

"No," he answered against my ear. His arms tightening around me and his love warmed my body and almost took my breath away. "You are still her. She is you. I didn't think it could ever be possible, but I love you even more now than I did before the accident. I rarely even think of it anymore. It's only when something comes up that you should know do I even think about it."

"Really?"

"Truly. You're a remarkable woman to make me forget. Tonight is no time to be serious though. We're going to have plenty of that in the coming days or maybe even weeks. Tonight is to have fun with and enjoy my wife " he said nipping at my earlobe.

"What did you have in mind? We're out here all by ourselves in a beautiful location." I questioned as I stood up and started to unbutton my shorts.

"I have a few ideas. First," he said as he leaned back on his elbows, "remove your clothing."

"Good idea. It is a little hot out here." I slowly unzipped my shorts before shimmying them down my hips and letting them fall to my feet. Picking up the hem of my shirt, I slowly brought it past my stomach, pausing just below my breasts.

Eric growled from behind my curtain of cotton causing a smile to spread across my face.

I quickly ripped it over my head to find Eric standing in all his naked glory right in front of me. His fangs were down and his cock was up. I couldn't help but take in every inch and muscle of his body as I licked my lips. Somehow in the few seconds it took me to get my shirt over my head, Eric had stripped, made his way over to the car to turn on some music that was playing through the air, and was standing only a few couple of feet in front of me.

In one smooth movement, he ripped off my bra and panties, and had me wrapped in his arms with us hovering twenty feet above the lake.

"Air sex?" I asked excitedly.

He shook his head no and smiled mischievously before he stopped hovering and let us fall into the water.

"Take a breath," he said a moment before we hit the water.

We were only underwater for a few moments before he brought us back up to the surface. Eric's smile beamed at me as he brushed the hair away from my face.

"I thought we'd go skinny dipping tonight, but I do like your idea of air sex," he said huskily as he glided us through the water.

"Have we ever had air sex?" I asked against his neck.

"No," he replied, shaking his head. He stopped moving us through the water and looked down at me with a smile on his handsome face.

I reached up and traced my fingertips over his brows, down his nose and cheekbones before running them over his curved lips. All the while he kept his eyes closed as he relished the feel of my touch.

"You're so handsome," I whispered against his lips, causing his smile to become even larger.

"I'm glad you think so. You're the most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes on." He swept his lips across my own before making his way over to my neck. I arched my neck to the side to give him greater access.

"Do you know how unbelievably happy you've made me?" His mouth and tongue were just below my hair and I could feel his chest rumble as he spoke softly, reverently.

"How so?" I managed to ask as one of his hands trailed down my back and the other cupped and massaged my breasts.

"You've opened your heart to me not once but twice, and if I had to I'd try make you fall in love with me a million times more."

"And I'd fall in love with you each and every time, but we don't have to worry about that. It's not like some witch is going to come along and curse one of us, taking away our memories."

"You're right, that only happens in bad fairy tales or poorly written cable tv shows," he said as he pulled back and looked into my eyes before crushing his lips to mine. "I'm still thankful nonetheless."

"As am I. You could have given up on me."

"Never," he responded, kissing me deeply.

"I'm sorry it took me so long. I'm sorry I put you through any of it."

"Don't apologize. It's not as if you did it on purpose. No more," he said against my lips.

Ed Sheeran's "Kiss Me" came on the radio and I smiled. It was one of my favorite songs at the time.

(Push the play button if you'd like the song to play as you read along.) Go to website to listen to song.

"Will you dance with me?" He asked as he let my body slip down his until my head was resting on his chest and one hand was encased in his.

We were quiet for a moment as we listened to the song and enjoyed the feeling of our bodies being skin to skin as Eric moved us in a dance through the water.

"Eric?" I asked and kissed his chest.

"Hmmm," he hummed from the top of my head.

"Why haven't we had sex in the air?"

I felt the rumble of his laughter before I ever heard it. When I looked up at him I could see that he was trying not to laugh at me.

"Well, my dear, sweet wife," he said cupping one side of my face as we continued to slow dance. "Before you were afraid of heights and didn't enjoy flying as you do now. I'm happy that you enjoy it now and I'm more than willing to appease any of your sexual desires," he said with a wiggle of his eyebrows, causing me to laugh until he stopped me with a soul scorching kiss.

When we finally broke apart, Eric sucked and nibbled his way down my neck until his cool mouth enveloped my nipple bringing it to a hard peak. He started to move slow and sensually along with the song.

His mouth worked its way back up my neck and to that special spot behind my ear.

My hands gripped, scratched, and caressed every inch of skin I could get my hands on as my climax drove me higher and higher. I threw my head back as our mutual orgasm overtook me. Once I came down enough and could finally see again, I watched as star after star danced across the sky.

I don't know how long I laid there in the water watching the sky and stars with Eric by my side. We were both quiet as we floated. Our only touch was our joined hands. Although I had never asked Eric it seemed that one of the things that brought him peace was looking up into the night sky.

When I felt Eric let go of my hand, I turned my head slightly to look at him. He was standing or hovering in the water since it was so deep and had what I would call a sad smile on his face.

"We need to go soon to make it back to Godric's before sunrise," he spoke quietly as he pulled me to him and cradled my body to his.

"I wish we never had to leave. I love it when you feel like you have tonight. I want more of that for you," I admitted quietly.

"I promise to give you more time alone with me and more dates, Lover."

"Thank you for bringing me here. It's very beautiful," I said as I took in the lake and the night sky one last time while Eric slowly flew us back over to our clothes. "You planned quite a romantic night for us."

"It pleases me that you enjoyed it."

"I truly did."

Once I was done dressing I made my way to the back of the car where Eric was folding up our blanket. He turned around as I drew near and held out his arms for me. I sped up my pace to get to him sooner and wrapped my arms around his narrow waist as I rested my head on his chest.

"I love you, Eric."

"I love you, Sookie," He kissed the top of my head and tightened his arms around me.

"You are my everything," I said looking into his eyes.

Eric smile grew bigger. "And you are mine."

* * *

I hope you all liked this chapter.

I want to thank Virala, MsBuffy, and Meridian for all their help! xo

Life is busy so I'm not sure when I'll get out my next chapter of Lovers Always or Black Friday. I hope you stick with me. :)


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